Exploratory Urnium Drilling Permit Explained

(From Danville Register and Bee 11/26/2007)

By REBECCA BLANTON
Register & Bee staff writer

As the debate over the economic impact and risks ofuranium mining continues, Virginia Uranium Inc. isexpected to begin exploration drilling for theradioactive element next month. The Virginia Department of Mines and Minerals has approved the company's exploration permit forpermission to drill 40 holes to take core samples ofore on land located northeast of Chatham on ColesRoad.
"There is no uranium mining allowed in Virginia,"said Conrad Spangler, division director of theDepartment of Mines and Minerals. "But this is notmining. These are just exploratory holes."Spangler said the permit allows Virginia Uranium to drill 20 new holes at Coles Hill in the Sheva community, as well as attempt to open up 20 old drillholes.
"There was considerable drilling done during the late1970s and early 80s in the Coles Hill area," he said."The exploration work that was done there consisted ofseveral hundred drill holes and a lot of testing wasdone then. Twenty of the holes will be attempts toreopen holes drilled in the 1980s, so that results done then can be verified using today's techniques.
"They're drilling a rotary core hole. The diameter isabout 3 1/2 inches and the total length of that corewill be brought to the surface."Geologists will look at the core and determine thetype of rock, thicknesses, and test the rock forminerals - uranium and otherwise."This is a wet drilling process, so there won't be anyairborne dust or contaminants," said Tom Bibb, an engineer with the state miningdivision.Workers at the site won't be doing much more than following standard safety precautions, Spanglerexplained.
"The application does contain a radiation managementplan," he said. "That includes the workers, the publicand the environment. The workers will be wearing steel-toed shoes, hard hats, (and) wearing some sortof radiation monitoring badge to monitor radiationexposure - like an X-ray technician might wear."Spangler said the workers also will wash their handsfrequently.
"There's just not expected to be any radiation levelswhere they'd have to wear a suit," he said.As part of the radiation management plan, backgroundlevels of the surface will be tested as well.Water adjacent to the property includes Georges Creek,Mill Creek, Whitehorn Creek and the Banister River.
The permit specifies how water used in the process will be reclaimed."They'll monitor radiation levels in water on thesite, streams and test some wells," Spangler said.A 5.6-acre area is all the land that is expected to bedisturbed in the process, according to the permit.That adds up from 40 holes at .14 acres per hole, butis still not enough to require a drilling permit fromPittsylvania County.
"If they disturb 10,000 contiguous square feet ormore, they have to get an erosion permit from us,"County Administrator Dan Sleeper said. "That's abouta quarter of an acre." Other than that, there are no other permits requiredexcept for the state permit that the company alreadyhas, Sleeper said."If they're drilling core samples, it's the same as if someone was going out and drilling for a septic tank,"he said.
The state permit does detail exactly how the companyplans to reclaim water, to restore land disturbed bythe drilling and to reclaim any trenches, pits orother things created by the process.The permit is good for one year, Spangler said.The holes may remain open for up to 30 days beforethey must be capped off or filled with cement, he said.
Spangler and Bibb contend the drilling does not pose athreat to the public."If we believed there was any threat to the public, we would not have issued the permit."
The state is placing a copy of the permit, completewith maps and diagrams, in the Chatham Public Library.No date is expected on when that copy will be madeavailable to the public. The state also is in the process of uploading the information to its Web page.