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Driven by high uranium prices, domestic uranium mining has resumed at three locations in the U.S. after an eight-year hiatus.
One of the mines is located in Arizona near the Grand Canyon. Formerly known as the Canyon Mine, the Pinyon Plain project is located within the footprint of the newly-designated Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni – Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument. Uranium mining near the Grand Canyon threatens water sources for the Havasupai Tribe. The designation of the monument prohibits the establishment of new mines within its boundaries, but the Pinyon Plain mine is grandfathered in.
The other two mines are the La Sal and Pandora mines, located in southeast Utah. All of the mines are owned by international mining company Energy Fuels. E&E News reports that more mining projects are scheduled to come online in Colorado.
Energy Fuels also owns the White Mesa Mill, where it plans to process the newly-mined uranium, according to KSJD. The mill, which is located near the Ute Mountain Ute community of White Mesa in southeast Utah, is the only operating uranium mill in the United States. The White Mesa community and Ute Mountain Ute Tribe oppose the continued operation of the mill, which they believe is contaminating groundwater.
Both the White Mesa Mill and the Pinyon Plain project are featured in Backyard Problems, a Center for Western Priorities report focused on environmental degradation due to industrial activity and extraction in the West.
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One good year is one good year, and we can’t get complacent... We can’t count on good years. We have to be prepared for anything.”
