Use Permit Required for Uranium Drilling Business

(From the Danville Register and Bee 11/27/2007)

By REBECCA BLANTON
Register & Bee staff writer

Virginia Uranium Inc. LLC will have to clear anotherobstacle before it begins drilling for uranium coresamples. The company does not have to have permission from Pittsylvania County to drill for the samples, but itwill need a special-use permit to put up the office trailers it plans to place at Coles Hill.
"That's what I understand," Coy Harville, chairman ofthe Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors, saidTuesday. "They have to have a special-use permit forthe trailers to keep the core samples in. "Odie (Shelton) told them they had to have one, but Idon't know if they have yet."
Shelton, director of code compliance for the county,could not be reached for comment, but according to employees in his office, no request for a special-usepermit has been submitted by Virginia Uranium. It's important to understand the difference, CountyAdministrator Dan Sleeper said. "They don't need a permit to do core drilling," hesaid. "The state has already approved that." The company, however, must get a permit to operate as an on-site business.
"They're setting up a geological office out there.They're setting up a business with an office. That'swhat requires a special-use permit," Sleeper said.
A special-use permit would have to be approved by the Planning Commission and the Board of Zoning Appeals. The potential for mining uranium in Virginia was proposed in both Pittsylvania and Orange counties inthe early 1980s, but only Pittsylvania County has seen any serious interest in getting the statewidemoratorium lifted.
The Orange County Board of Supervisors votedunanimously Nov. 13 to approve a resolution supportinga continued moratorium on uranium mining. Pittsylvania County supervisors remain cautious. Theysay they have no plans to make any kind of decisionother than to examine the issue, study the facts andlisten to what their constituents want. "The board members have said they're going to see howthis thing goes," Harville said. "The moratoriumhasn't been lifted yet. We have four new board memberscoming on board (at the first of the year) and I haveno clue how they feel about it (the uranium issue)."