‘Saudi Arabia’ of uranium off limits, for now

The Navajo Nation covers more than 70,000 sq. km in the Four Corners area of the American Southwest. It’s a land known as much for its deep canyons and rugged terrain as it is for the Navajo traditions of rug weaving and metal crafts.

But in mining circles, the Navajo people have become more famous for what they won’t do.

The area, mostly situated in New Mexico, is known to host rich deposits of uranium but a legacy of pollution and illness from the first uranium boom (which began roughly 60 years ago) has turned the Navajo people steadfastly against uranium mining.

The boom provided jobs for the Navajo for almost 40 years but left some miners with cancer, and about 1,000 mine sites were abandoned without being properly cleaned up.

And many Navajo still remember the collapse of a tailings dam at Church Rock in 1979 that sent radioactive wastewater flooding into their land. Concerns over water contamination persist, even now.

“The remnants of uranium activity continue to pollute our land, our water and our lives,” Navajo president, Joe Shirley, recently told a special U. S. Senate committee. “It is unconscionable to me that the federal government would consider allowing uranium mining to be restarted anywhere near the Navajo Nation when we are still suffering from previous mining activities.”

Shirley was in Washington to ask the committee to respect a Navajo council ban on all uranium mining on its traditional lands. That ban was passed by the council in 2005 with an overwhelming majority of 63 to 19.

“Certain substances in the Earth that are harmful to the people should not be disturbed,” the Navajo legislation reads, “and that the people now know that uranium is one such substance, and therefore, that its extraction should be avoided as traditional practice and prohibited by Navajo law.”

Uranium companies like Uranium Resources (URRE-Q) acknowledge the shoddy job its predecessors have done and are offering money to help clean up old sites, as well as promising to use modern extraction technologies — which, they say, won’t leave any environmental damage.

The geology in the area is known to host sandstone-type, roll-front, uranium mineralization, and the porous nature of the host rock makes in-situ leach extraction the preferred mining method.

In-situ leaching works by pumping oxygen-fortified water into the host rock where it washes out the uranium. The uranium-rich liquid is later collected at surface. The method doesn’t scar the landscape like an open pit or subject underground miners to radioactive dust, but some environmental groups say the technique threatens the water table.

That is Shirley’s concern and he remains skeptical of what he says is still a relatively new science. In an interview with The Northern Miner, Shirley said it would take another scientific breakthrough to make him more amenable to uranium mining on Navajo land.

“If they can come up with a science that cures cancer then we might look at (uranium mining),” Shirley says.

Uranium Resources’ prominent land position in the region makes it the strongest challenger to Shirley’s convictions. The Texas-based company has a non-National Instrument 43-101 compliant resource of 91.7 million lbs. U3O8 in the state of New Mexico and has employed in-situ leaching in Texas since the late 1970s.

Uranium Resources sees New Mexico as the key to not only its own growth but to that of the overall uranium market.

“New Mexico is vital not only for the industry but the U. S. supply base,” said David Clark, Uranium Resources’ president and chief executive, during a recent conference call. “There’s known indicated, measured, inferred — whatever you want to call it — of 600 million pounds in New Mexico. When you bag that with the 340 million pounds that has been produced in the past, this is a reserve base that was one billion pounds or more.”

At times, company management has called Navajo lands the “Saudi Arabia of uranium.”

But getting a foot in the door with the Navajo has proven tough. Development of the company’s Churchrock property in New Mexico was held up by an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) decision that ruled in favour of the Navajo — even though Churchrock doesn’t lie inside Navajo Nation lands. Shirley and the Navajo see lands around their land as coming under their jurisdiction, under the designation of “Indian Country.” The EPA agreed, leaving Uranium Resources to file an appeal. The next court date is scheduled for May 22 and a verdict could take anywhere from a few months to a year.

Another company with ground in the area is Kelowna, B. C.-based Strathmore Minerals (STM-V), but company spokesman Craig Christy says exploration work was put on hold until Uranium Resources finishes its appeal process. Strathmore’s property is also called Churchrock.

A 2005 report to National Instrument 43-101 standards puts measured and indicated resources at Strathmore’s Churchrock at 11.8 million lbs U3O8 with an average grade of 0.1% U3O8.

Strathmore was only beginning the permitting process before it shut down operations, whereas Uranium Resources had its necessary licences and was nearing production.

Beyond the courtroom battle, Uranium Resources was trying to woo the Navajo by agreeing to a levy of 50 on every pound of uranium oxide produced with the funds slated for reclamation work on abandoned sites.

The proposal, however, was vetoed by New Mexico governor Bill Richardson who said the tax wouldn’t raise enough money to clean up all the sites.

Clark continues to work with government and remains positive.

“Nobody in this whole process has disagreed on principle, which is tying future production to help resolve the past,” he says.

Even without all the details of a tax scheme worked out, Uranium Resources is identifying the extent of the damage done by historical mining. The company is cataloguing all the reclamation work that needs to be done, including work inside Navajo lands.

The program is part of an overall effort by the company to educate the public about uranium mining and convincing them that it is safe and environmentally friendly.

Shirley doesn’t know how rich the uranium deposits are on Navajo lands and he says exploration companies won’t soon find out either.

“Not here on Navajo land,” he says. “The mining industry knows our position. No one comes by to explore for uranium ore, they are all staying away. But they do put pressure on Governor Bill Richardson to try to get at the ore.”