Nov 27, 2008 - 04:06:19 CST
An Australian company should get the green light next week to prospect for uranium on the Little Missouri National Grasslands in Slope and Billings counties.PacMag Metals hopes to open pits on the grasslands and private land nearby to mine uranium and other valuable metals like molybdenum and germanium.
A spokesman for the Bureau of Land Management, which handles mineral leasing on all federal lands, said its review is nearly complete and a permit should be issued next week to Formation Resources. Formation is a North Dakota corporation created by PacMag.
The permit would allow Formation to conduct Geiger-counter readings across 18,000 acres to detect the presence of uranium on the grasslands.
PacMag's Web site says it is getting excellent results for uranium on private land adjacent to the grasslands, where it's been able to bore soil samples.
Under conditions of the permit, the company only will be able to take readings, not any soil samples from the grasslands.
The Forest Service said it wants an environmental review before Formation can take even the small shovel samples it asked for in its initial application.
A company spokesman, Jim Guilinger, has said the company anticipated an environmental delay and still hopes to complete the Geiger survey this winter.
Forest Service supervisor Ron Jablonski said it could be a decade before any uranium mining could occur on the Little Missouri National Grasslands. While the grasslands are managed for oil development and cattle grazing, there is no existing plan for uranium mining. Jablonski said the management plan would have to be amended first.
The uranium industry retired in North Dakota in the early '70s, when nuclear energy went out of favor, though the price has climbed in recent years. Its heyday centered in southwestern North Dakota, where uranium is found in shallow coal seams.
Based on recent inquiries, the state Department of Mineral Resources is developing new uranium mining rules. It anticipated that as in other states, injected water would bring uranium to the surface. However, it appears here the subsurface layers are too porous and open pit mining would be the preferred method instead.
(Reach reporter Lauren Donovan at 888-303-5511 or lauren@westriv.com.)
bad idea wrote on Nov 30, 2008 8:50 PM:
its pretty windy out there too. "
cancer wrote on Nov 30, 2008 8:47 PM:
Comment wrote on Nov 27, 2008 9:48 AM:
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