Comment: More uranium drill holes, this time in NM, where is the uranium going if no new nuke plants?
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Firm plans to drill for uranium near Datil
T.S. Last El Defensor Chieftain General Manager
There's more talk of drilling in Catron County. But this time it's not for water; it's for uranium.
The matter came up at the Magdalena Board of Trustees meeting on April 27.
For informational purposes, Mayor James Wolfe notified the board of a plan to conduct uranium mineral exploration about 15 miles north of Datil.
The plan calls for up to 60 exploratory core holes to be drilled to depths of 250-400 feet in the Cibola National Forest on the west side of the Datil Mountains. The drilling would be completed in the fall of this year.
"It's not that big a deal for us, but it might be for some folks," said Wolfe. The Village of Magdalena is about 34 miles east of Datil.
Among the material the mayor passed on to the trustees to review was a letter from Dennis Aldridge, district ranger with the Magdalena Ranger District. The letter indicates that Red Basin LLC plans to drill the holes for the purpose of confirming exploration data from the 1970s and that the Forest Service is conducting an environmental analysis to gauge the potential impact.
The letter notes that the Forest Service cannot prohibit mining activities in the national forest.
Firm plans to drill for uranium near Datil
T.S. Last El Defensor Chieftain General Manager
There's more talk of drilling in Catron County. But this time it's not for water; it's for uranium.
The matter came up at the Magdalena Board of Trustees meeting on April 27.
For informational purposes, Mayor James Wolfe notified the board of a plan to conduct uranium mineral exploration about 15 miles north of Datil.
The plan calls for up to 60 exploratory core holes to be drilled to depths of 250-400 feet in the Cibola National Forest on the west side of the Datil Mountains. The drilling would be completed in the fall of this year.
"It's not that big a deal for us, but it might be for some folks," said Wolfe. The Village of Magdalena is about 34 miles east of Datil.
Among the material the mayor passed on to the trustees to review was a letter from Dennis Aldridge, district ranger with the Magdalena Ranger District. The letter indicates that Red Basin LLC plans to drill the holes for the purpose of confirming exploration data from the 1970s and that the Forest Service is conducting an environmental analysis to gauge the potential impact.
The letter notes that the Forest Service cannot prohibit mining activities in the national forest.
It goes on to warn that mining activities have negatively impacted human health and the environment in the past.
"Uranium is a locatable mineral that is available for exploration and development under the mining laws of the United States," Aldridge wrote in the document, dated April 20. "It is widely recognized that uranium mining activities in New Mexico during the mid-1950s through the early 1980s were sometimes conducted in a manner that created health issues and contaminated environments."
Aldridge writes that it is the agency's responsibility to assure that the impact exploration efforts have on surface resources are minimized. The letter requests that written comments that serve to identify issues and alternatives be sent to the Cibola National Forest office in Albuquerque by Friday, May 22.
Red Basin LLC is a subsidiary of Strategic Resources Inc., a Canadian company working in partnership with another Canadian firm, Running Fox Resources.
According to Strategic Resources' Web site, Running Fox acquired lode claims totaling 3,100 acres in Catron County in 2007.
Catron County is already in the midst of another controversial drilling proposal.
San Augustin Plains Ranch LLC has filed an application with the State Engineer's Office to drill 37 wells for the purpose of diverting billions of gallons of water per year from beneath the San Agustin Plains to supplement the water supply in the Rio Grande Basin.
"Uranium is a locatable mineral that is available for exploration and development under the mining laws of the United States," Aldridge wrote in the document, dated April 20. "It is widely recognized that uranium mining activities in New Mexico during the mid-1950s through the early 1980s were sometimes conducted in a manner that created health issues and contaminated environments."
Aldridge writes that it is the agency's responsibility to assure that the impact exploration efforts have on surface resources are minimized. The letter requests that written comments that serve to identify issues and alternatives be sent to the Cibola National Forest office in Albuquerque by Friday, May 22.
Red Basin LLC is a subsidiary of Strategic Resources Inc., a Canadian company working in partnership with another Canadian firm, Running Fox Resources.
According to Strategic Resources' Web site, Running Fox acquired lode claims totaling 3,100 acres in Catron County in 2007.
Catron County is already in the midst of another controversial drilling proposal.
San Augustin Plains Ranch LLC has filed an application with the State Engineer's Office to drill 37 wells for the purpose of diverting billions of gallons of water per year from beneath the San Agustin Plains to supplement the water supply in the Rio Grande Basin.
The application was met with hundreds of protests from citizens and various other entities and is still pending.
tslast@dchieftain.com
http://www.dchieftain.com/news/88877-05-09-09.html
tslast@dchieftain.com
http://www.dchieftain.com/news/88877-05-09-09.html
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