Post by Zoinkers on Dec 21, 2006 19:58:28 GMT -5
By Felicity Barringer Published: December 14, 2006
WASHINGTON: A fourfold increase in the price of uranium in the past
three years has led to a rush of new claims by uranium companies in the
Western United States, according to a new survey by an environmental
group that wants to inform the public of the potentially harmful
consequences.
Mining claim data compiled by the Environmental Working Group, a
research organization based in Washington, shows that in Colorado,
Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico, the total claims rose from just over
2,000 in 2001 to about 18,000 in 2005.
In Arizona, a project manager for the Canadian mining concern Quaterra
Resources, has filed 616 claims, many within a few miles of the Grand
Canyon's north rim.
"There's a renaissance of people's attitudes toward nuclear energy as a
viable, green, clean, clean-air type of energy source," said Paul
Matysek, president of Energy Metals, based in Vancouver.
Matysek added that the increase in oil and natural gas prices, even
though they have eased in recent months, had spurred a miniboom in the
price of uranium.
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"Three years ago it was $12 or $14" a pound, he said. "Today it's
$65.50."
Matysek's company has signed a letter of intent to merge with High
Plains Uranium, a company formed in New Brunswick, Canada, less than
two years ago. High Plains, with headquarters in Cheyenne, Wyoming, has
filed more than 2,250 claims.
Celia Boddington, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management,
said, "What's driving this is primarily the demand for energy."
Environmental groups said that, whatever is driving it, the
consequences could be severe.
"A modern economy has to have mining, but where and how the mining
takes place should be decided by citizens, not mining company
pressure," Dusty Horwitt, an analyst with the Environmental Working
Group, said in an e-mail message.
Horwitt added, "When people see that uranium mines are going to be
located near or upstream from them, we think they will demand more
say-so over where mining goes on public property."
The uranium claims are clustered in places like eastern Utah's Lisbon
and Crystal Valleys, near Moab; areas of Arizona north of the Grand
Canyon; and the Colorado Plateau in Colorado.
But new mining claims of all kinds are scattered around the Western
United States, from the border areas where California meets Oregon to
the entire state of Nevada - historically, the state more associated
with hard- rock mining than any other in the West.
In Nevada, for instance, the environmental group found new claims
covering more than 3.5 million acres, or 1.4 million hectares, of
public land.
An academic expert and a mining company executive both said that only a
tiny fraction of all claims - usually less than a tenth of 1 percent
- are ever mined.
Still, the scars of open-pit mining are visible in many places, as the
Environmental Working Group's Web site shows, combining its new data
with Google mapping software.
Equally perturbing, increased cancer deaths have occurred near at least
one old uranium mining site.
Still, said Mark Kuchta, an associate professor of mining engineering
at the Colorado School of Mines, uranium mining in the future will have
far less impact than previous mines and their associated mills.
"The environmental laws have changed," Kuchta said. "In order to build
the mine, there's a plethora of permits" needed. He added, "You can't
just leave them on the surface and walk away the way you used to do."
www.iht.com/articles/2006/12/14/yourmoney/mines.php
WASHINGTON: A fourfold increase in the price of uranium in the past
three years has led to a rush of new claims by uranium companies in the
Western United States, according to a new survey by an environmental
group that wants to inform the public of the potentially harmful
consequences.
Mining claim data compiled by the Environmental Working Group, a
research organization based in Washington, shows that in Colorado,
Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico, the total claims rose from just over
2,000 in 2001 to about 18,000 in 2005.
In Arizona, a project manager for the Canadian mining concern Quaterra
Resources, has filed 616 claims, many within a few miles of the Grand
Canyon's north rim.
"There's a renaissance of people's attitudes toward nuclear energy as a
viable, green, clean, clean-air type of energy source," said Paul
Matysek, president of Energy Metals, based in Vancouver.
Matysek added that the increase in oil and natural gas prices, even
though they have eased in recent months, had spurred a miniboom in the
price of uranium.
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Qantas board accepts sweetened buyout offer
"Three years ago it was $12 or $14" a pound, he said. "Today it's
$65.50."
Matysek's company has signed a letter of intent to merge with High
Plains Uranium, a company formed in New Brunswick, Canada, less than
two years ago. High Plains, with headquarters in Cheyenne, Wyoming, has
filed more than 2,250 claims.
Celia Boddington, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management,
said, "What's driving this is primarily the demand for energy."
Environmental groups said that, whatever is driving it, the
consequences could be severe.
"A modern economy has to have mining, but where and how the mining
takes place should be decided by citizens, not mining company
pressure," Dusty Horwitt, an analyst with the Environmental Working
Group, said in an e-mail message.
Horwitt added, "When people see that uranium mines are going to be
located near or upstream from them, we think they will demand more
say-so over where mining goes on public property."
The uranium claims are clustered in places like eastern Utah's Lisbon
and Crystal Valleys, near Moab; areas of Arizona north of the Grand
Canyon; and the Colorado Plateau in Colorado.
But new mining claims of all kinds are scattered around the Western
United States, from the border areas where California meets Oregon to
the entire state of Nevada - historically, the state more associated
with hard- rock mining than any other in the West.
In Nevada, for instance, the environmental group found new claims
covering more than 3.5 million acres, or 1.4 million hectares, of
public land.
An academic expert and a mining company executive both said that only a
tiny fraction of all claims - usually less than a tenth of 1 percent
- are ever mined.
Still, the scars of open-pit mining are visible in many places, as the
Environmental Working Group's Web site shows, combining its new data
with Google mapping software.
Equally perturbing, increased cancer deaths have occurred near at least
one old uranium mining site.
Still, said Mark Kuchta, an associate professor of mining engineering
at the Colorado School of Mines, uranium mining in the future will have
far less impact than previous mines and their associated mills.
"The environmental laws have changed," Kuchta said. "In order to build
the mine, there's a plethora of permits" needed. He added, "You can't
just leave them on the surface and walk away the way you used to do."
www.iht.com/articles/2006/12/14/yourmoney/mines.php