Uranium Corporation 'Bucks' Navajos To Begin Project

URI Debates Next Step In Churchrock
By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
Gallup Independent

WINDOW ROCK – Uranium Resources Inc. will meet with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission next week in Rockville, Md., to discuss a plan of action for advancing its Churchrock uranium project.

Don Ewigleben, URI president and CEO, said the recent U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals’ determination that its Section 8 property is not Indian Country allows the company to take the actions necessary to advance the Churchrock property toward production.

The 10th Circuit decision is still subject to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Navajo Nation. The entities have until Sept. 15 to file an appeal.

Ewigleben said the underground injection control permit for URI’s subsidiary, Hydro Resources Inc., from the New Mexico Environment Department and the Source Materials License from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission are both in “timely renewal status.”

URI officials will be meeting with the appropriate state and federal agencies over the next several weeks to discuss next steps.

“URI’s objective is to be in a position to begin uranium production in New Mexico by the first half of 2013, assuming the renewal processes move forward in a timely manner, a recovery in uranium prices, and the availability of financing for the necessary capital expenditures to build the infrastructure,” he said.

“Our project will be a major contributor to addressing the need for domestic uranium production to supply U.S. nuclear power plant needs.”

URI’s license will allow the company to produce 1 million pounds of uranium per year for the initial project in Churchrock, after which the company will have to demonstrate to the NRC certain restoration parameters before it can move forward with production of up to 3 million pounds per year.

URI has 183,000 acres of mineral holdings in New Mexico and 101.4 million pounds of in-place mineralized uranium material. The NRC Source Materials License would allow URI to produce 33.9 million pounds. Section 8 has an estimated 6.5 million pounds.

“After we have completed preliminary discussions with the appropriate staff of both the NRC and NMED, we plan on submitting the materials that they may need to renew our Source Materials License and discharge plan. These meetings will help to determine the scope of the submittals and staff expectations,” Ewigleben said.

At the same time, the company is updating its project feasibility study and reviewing the project engineering, including facility design and cost estimates.

“We will continue to demonstrate how in situ recovery mining is safe and environmentally friendly, while also showing that modern safety protocols have advanced significantly from the last mining cycle,” Ewigleben said.

“Bringing uranium mining back to New Mexico will have a strong economic impact on the state by creating jobs in the communities of Cibola and McKinley counties where we will operate.”

On July 16, members of the Churchrock community held a prayer walk to mark the 31st anniversary of the Churchrock uranium mill tailings spill. The 1979 accident occurred when an earthen tailings dam at the United Nuclear Corp. mill failed, spilling an estimated 1,100 tons of radioactive mill waste and 95 million gallons of radioactive wastewater down Pipeline Arroyo and into the north fork of the Puerco River.

Nadine Padilla of the Multicultural Alliance for a Safe Environment, a coalition of grassroots organizations, said, “We’re opposed to any new uranium mining and we’re in it for the long haul.”

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