Uranium Here Uniquely Configured >> Geologist

(From Danville Register and Bee 09/17/2007)

By REBECCA BLANTON
Register & Bee staff writer

CHATHAM - Pittsylvania County - it's land a geologistor a farmer could benefit from. Fortunately, they both do.
Experts say if politicians will loosen the pursestrings and fund the necessary research, the county'sgeology could reveal secrets that could save lives andbenefit the economy through uranium mining.
"It's sitting right here in our own backyard," A.K.Sinha, a senior geologist at Virginia Tech, said ofthe solution to safely mining uranium worldwide.
"You talk to people in Washington, and they look toAustralia, to Finland (for research). But the solutionis here in our own backyard."
Sinha is talking about Coles Hill.It rests on Coles Road off Chalk Level Road in theSheva community, which is north of Chatham and southof Gretna.
Marline Corp. of Canada calls Coles Hill the largestundeveloped uranium deposit in North America. Uraniumis a heavy silvery-white metallic element processedfor use in research, nuclear fuels and nuclear weapons.
Sinha has spent almost a decade studying the secretsthe geology of Coles Hill. The impact of it has yet toreach much farther than academic journals."We think we can learn something from this site thatcan be applied to existing contaminated sites andnuclear waste repositories," Sinha said.
Like many big secrets, this one was hiding in plainview. All it took to spot it was a bit of curiosityand a will to dig a little deeper into the mystery."That's part of my job, my coursework - talking aboutthe geology of Appalachia," he said. "This is part ofAppalachian geology."
While teaching and talking one day, Sinha said heheard about an unusual phenomenon in PittsylvaniaCounty."These are the kinds of things that you don't happento just discover," Sinha said. "They're in theliterature, you get curious about it and you take thenext step. The big thing for science is curiositydriven science," he continued.
"So once I heard about it - I don't remember how,maybe one of my students told me about it - we decidedto go out and look at the place ourselves."
A journey of curiosity turned into what could becomeone of the greatest discoveries in the world: Anatural process that keeps the most deadly ore in theworld from seeping into natural water systems likerivers, ponds and water tables. It's rare, and as faras Sinha knows, it's only in a few places, includingPittsylvania County.
"I couldn't say that it's the only one in the worldbecause I haven't kept track of the literature, so Idon't know if there is another one like this. It isone of the few," he said. "It's a rare one. It's largebut, rare. Coles Hill is unique. It is rich inuranium, but it is also rich in science."'
"The county itself is filled with geologic science,most of it rare, with minerals appearing in thiscounty that are found only in Japan or Norway, expertssay.Construction work to re-contour old mines in thespring of 1996 at the 19th-century Hutter iron mine innorthern Pittsylvania County exposed a small dumpcomposed almost entirely of manganese-rich rocks.
Minerals found in this dump include carbonates;manganese olivines and humites; manganese oxides andspinels; a manganese pyroxenoid; manganese-richsphalerite; alabandite; spessartine garnet;barium-manganese mica; and barite.Several of these minerals are previously unknown fromthe southern Appalachians, and at least one(kinoshitalite) has been reported only once in NorthAmerica. Like Coles Hill, these minerals are part of ageologic phenomenon found in the county."
The organization of geological events and processes,all the geologic features are in response to certainprocesses and at Coles Hill, certain processes justhappened to combine to give this concentration touranium," Sinha said."What we discovered was there was a big researchchallenge. Why didn't the uranium physically migrateinto the water system, the rivers and the ponds? Wefound it does not," he said. "We were able to discoverthat. We have a very good handle on that. It's becauseof the chemical reactions that take place in theregion. The chemicals and the reactions in that placetrap the uranium.
"Sinha added, "That's why it's so unique. I think it'sworth a lot more investigation to discover more. Thatis the key. Fundamentally, it is the key to everythingat Coles Hill. It is a natural phenomenon."You need to get Washington people thinking on thesame wavelength about it. I don't think theyunderstand."
People have forgotten about Coles Hill since itsdiscovery about six years ago, but the science, theresearch, the need to pry a few more secrets loose isstill there, Sinha said."It has some secrets I haven't been able to unravel,"he said. "So, it's important for the science. Naturedoes well without us.
"Sinha explained that if scientists can understand whatis happening at Coles Hill before mining begins or theunique geological features are destroyed, it ispossible to create a technology or scientific processthat could make uranium mining safe for the world."This is an opportunity for funding agencies -federal, state, local, even commercial organizations -if they would just capture the real value, thescience," he said.
The race, Sinha said, is between science and money. Hebelieves it is possible for both sides to win ifpeople grasp the importance of the site in time."It's not the technology that will be the heart of thediscussion. It's perception," he said. "Will they leanon the side of science or the side of more dollars?
"They aren't mutually incompatible. You can have both,but you need an organizational framework that'slooking out for both sides. If you have a communitythat wants to deploy technologies for the dollar,they're not going to look at the other half.
"If you have scientists running around just looking atthe work, they're not very thoughtful about theeconomy either," Sinha said. "My request is to pullthe two communities around Coles Hill. Wouldn't thatbe fascinating? For the first time, scientists wouldbe talking to venture capitalists or to politicians.What a concept."
Gov. Timothy M. Kaine announced Wednesday that hisoffice would be exploring energy alternatives as wellas exploring how safe uranium mining has become in thelast 25 years.
Safe mining, however, is not the issue, say expertsfrom Oak Ridge's National Laboratory. The "minetailings" or what is left after the ore is mined iswhat creates the greatest danger. Tailings dissolve inwater and seep into water tables, rivers and ponds.That danger and the secret in how to curb it is whatColes Hill offers - if scientists can get to it beforeengineers and miners do.
"Research tasks should be done now. I'm not in thepolitical loop," Sinha said. "So I don't know whatwill happen."I'm just a scientist. Give us the resources so we canshare with you the best scientific knowledge that wecan generate. And then you make the decision (to mineor not)," he said.
"The richness is not just the deposit with respect todollars, but also richness with respect to science.Which way do you go right now? Here is a greatresource for the commonwealth."It'll generate however many millions of dollars forthe economy, but it's a great scientific resource.Someone in upper management has to sit down and he orshe can decide all on their own which way to go,"Sinha said. "People like me make one simple request -let's get all the knowledge we can about this regionand then sit back and look at it thoughtfully and say,hmmm, this is our best route and this is where weshould seek agreement."