Monday, June 24, 2013
Powertech uranium mining issue
To the Editor:
One question surrounding the Powertech uranium mining issue is whether the uranium business is now profitable, with yellowcake selling at about $40 per pound – down from $137 per pound some years ago.
In a May 22, 2013, interview, V.B. Price questions Paul Robinson, a New Mexico uranium expert, about the uranium business, its profitability – or lack thereof – and the legacy of Superfund quality uranium contaminated sites, which are abandoned and have to be cleaned up by taxpayers.
The Dewey-Burdock Powertech site of 10,500 acres already should be a Superfund clean-up site, due to four huge mile-across open pit mines full of radioactive water and another 70 smaller mines also containing contaminated water, plus thousands of bore holes that act as conduits for surface water to move into aquifers.
Powertech has been careful in all its applications for permits to state it is not responsible for any existing contamination or clean-up requirements. Mining on top of an already heavily contaminate site that drains into the Cheyenne River is very dangerous to the environment.
To view this important interview on the Internet, go to http://newmexicomercury.com/archives/category/features/P10
Susan Henderson
Edgemont