Monday, May 9, 2011
Mine Uranium in Virginia?
In the latest development in the controversial Coles Hill uranium deposit in Pittsylvania, Virginia, The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) announced last month the provisional 13-member committee that will conduct the Academy’s study of uranium mining in Virginia. The committee is comprised of academics from various fields, geologists, mining and public health experts and environmental scientists.
The NAS states that “the study will provide independent, expert advice that can be used to inform decisions about the future of uranium mining in the Commonwealth of Virginia; however, the study will not make recommendations about whether or not uranium mining should be permitted nor will the study include site-specific assessments.”
The $1.4 million study will be funded through Virginia Tech by Virginia Uranium Inc., the owner of the uranium
This company also has some pretty well connected political help. Walter Cole’s brother-in-law, Whitt Clement, is a former state delegate and Virginia transportation secretary under former Gov. Mark R. Warner. And U.S. Congressional State Senator Robert Hurt’s father, Henry Hurt, is a friend of Walter Coles and an investor in the project.
Charlottesville Uranium
Pittsylvania is not alone in potential uranium mining sites. Uranium is a fairly common mineral, including here in Albemarle County. What separates economically viable sites from others is the concentration of uranium and the size of the prospect. Robert Bodnar, a distinguished professor of geochemistry and geology at Virginia Tech, who supports an end to the 25-year-old moratorium on Virginia uranium mining, has commented, “I think there’s a very high probability that there are other deposits of the same size, same grade, as Coles Hill located in the eastern United States.” In an op-ed he wrote, “ Virginia has a varied geology that includes rock types often associated with economic occurrences of uranium … Lifting the moratorium on uranium mining will encourage mining companies to explore for uranium in Virginia, and this could lead to Virginia becoming the ‘Saudi Arabia of nuclear fuel.’”
The Virginia Division of Mineral Resources Publication 38 identifies several anomalously high radiation sites around Charlottesville. “Two of the most significant occurrences are located 6 miles northwest of Charlottesville….….. At occurrence 2 (just off Rt. 676 past Rt. 839 beyond the Whippoorwill Hollow Subdivision) extremely high levels of radioactivity were found in the soil and saprolite…. At occurrence 5 recent excavations for a housing development (within the current Whippoorwill Hollow Subdivision) exposed a broad area of… gneiss and associated schist…….Maximum levels of uranium in the mineralized schist at the surface range from 69 ppm to 140 ppm U3O8….Logs of water wells and analysis of radon gas and uranium in groundwater at occurrence 5 indicate zones of mineralization at depths of up to 131 feet.”
The same study identified 7 sites of anomalously high ground radiation levels, including the recently sold abandoned quarry adjacent to the Charlottesville reservoir
Barboursville Uranium
A website sponsored by The Friends of Barboursville, Inc. identifies another potential local uranium site:;
“At the August 29 DMME hearing, Friends of Barboursville presented several USGS and DMME studies that indicate the presence of elevated levels of uranium at the proposed mine site. The areas rich in uranium are strongly correlated with faults depicted on USGS maps. A map produced in 1981 by Leavy, Grosz and Johnson, based on this data, specifically identifies a uranium and thorium anomaly at the proposed mine site. Aerial radiometric data from flights over the Culpeper and Barboursville Basins shows an area of elevated uranium levels extending through Somerset and Barboursville, between Hardwick and Cowherd mountains. Uranium levels up to six times the regional average can be found in this area.
Before the Virginia moratorium on uranium mining, 2,000 acres of land in Orange County was under lease to uranium mining companies. Local residents were approached by Marline Corporation with offers to buy mineral rights to their land… …At least two aerial radiometric studies (a broad study of the Charlottesville quadrangle and a focused study of the Culpeper and Barboursville basins) were done in the early 1980s. Ground-level studies were also done, as part of the USGS Hydrogeochemical Stream Sediment Survey. These surveys clearly show elevated uranium levels in the Barboursville area…”
It is indeed interesting that Marline Uranium Corporation showed an interest, given the home run they found in Pittsylvania.
To Mine Or Not To Mine:
The Southern Environmental Law Center is against lifting the moratorium. They make the case in their Web site fact sheet, which is reproduced in part below:
If Virginia were to lift its moratorium and developed NRC-equivalent regulations, it could apply for "Agreement State" status.
-- An Agreement State replaces NRC as regulator of uranium mills and waste; Agreement States are not required to conduct an EIS for mining activities.
-- Existing Agreement States such as Arizona, Utah and New Mexico have experienced severe problems with environmental impacts from mining..
What are some potential impacts of mining and milling uranium in Virginia?
• Pollution of groundwater and surface waters from overburden, waste rock and ore, including acid drainage, tailings impoundments and other substances in drilling wastes, brines, solvents, etc., used in the extraction or processing of ore.
• Virginia would be the first state east of the Mississippi to allow mining. Virginia has significantly higher precipitation rates, more extreme weather events, including hurricanes, higher groundwater levels, larger watersheds of interconnected streams and rivers, and greater populations living in relative proximity than sites in western U.S. or Canada where uranium has been mined.
• The impact of significant storm events on uranium mining is one of the concerns yet to be adequately addressed.
• Polluted substances in the air and dust caused by extraction.
• Radon from underground mines, drill holes, surface extraction and processing operations.
• Migration of radionuclides and soil disturbances due to loss of vegetative cover.
Virginians shall have to decide if the potential economic benefits and energy needs outweigh the potential environmental and health concerns.
Wick Hunt
Albemarle’s Hot
In the latest development in the controversial Coles Hill uranium deposit in Pittsylvania, Virginia, The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) announced last month the provisional 13-member committee that will conduct the Academy’s study of uranium mining in Virginia. The committee is comprised of academics from various fields, geologists, mining and public health experts and environmental scientists.
The NAS states that “the study will provide independent, expert advice that can be used to inform decisions about the future of uranium mining in the Commonwealth of Virginia; however, the study will not make recommendations about whether or not uranium mining should be permitted nor will the study include site-specific assessments.”
The $1.4 million study will be funded through Virginia Tech by Virginia Uranium Inc., the owner of the uranium
"Mr. Schnell, as an employee with the industry, clearly has a financial interest in the matter and as such presents a conflict of interest that could impair his objectivity," the SELC wrote in a letter to a division of the National Academy of Sciences.
In1978 Marline Uranium Inc. company geologists, reportedly taking a short cut from one survey area to another, drove their scintillometer equipped vehicle on the dirt and gravel road bordering Coles Hill, and discovered the radioactive anomaly leading to the discovery of a deposit that at that time they estimated at 30 million pounds of uranium. However, environmental opposition led to the 1982 State ban on mining uranium in Virginia
The CEO of Virginia Uranium Inc. is Mr. Walter Coles, an affable 70 something year-old retired federal government employee. Coles Hill is his historic family farm, started in 1785, that along with the Bowen family’s property, sits atop the uranium. He feels he is the one to do the uranium mining and extraction right, and help the community’s economy. Not all in Pittsylvania are convinced that opening Virginia to uranium mining and milling is a good idea in their back yards.
This company also has some pretty well connected political help. Walter Cole’s brother-in-law, Whitt Clement, is a former state delegate and Virginia transportation secretary under former Gov. Mark R. Warner. And U.S. Congressional State Senator Robert Hurt’s father, Henry Hurt, is a friend of Walter Coles and an investor in the project.
Charlottesville Uranium
Pittsylvania is not alone in potential uranium mining sites. Uranium is a fairly common mineral, including here in Albemarle County. What separates economically viable sites from others is the concentration of uranium and the size of the prospect. Robert Bodnar, a distinguished professor of geochemistry and geology at Virginia Tech, who supports an end to the 25-year-old moratorium on Virginia uranium mining, has commented, “I think there’s a very high probability that there are other deposits of the same size, same grade, as Coles Hill located in the eastern United States.” In an op-ed he wrote, “ Virginia has a varied geology that includes rock types often associated with economic occurrences of uranium … Lifting the moratorium on uranium mining will encourage mining companies to explore for uranium in Virginia, and this could lead to Virginia becoming the ‘Saudi Arabia of nuclear fuel.’”
The Virginia Division of Mineral Resources Publication 38 identifies several anomalously high radiation sites around Charlottesville. “Two of the most significant occurrences are located 6 miles northwest of Charlottesville….….. At occurrence 2 (just off Rt. 676 past Rt. 839 beyond the Whippoorwill Hollow Subdivision) extremely high levels of radioactivity were found in the soil and saprolite…. At occurrence 5 recent excavations for a housing development (within the current Whippoorwill Hollow Subdivision) exposed a broad area of… gneiss and associated schist…….Maximum levels of uranium in the mineralized schist at the surface range from 69 ppm to 140 ppm U3O8….Logs of water wells and analysis of radon gas and uranium in groundwater at occurrence 5 indicate zones of mineralization at depths of up to 131 feet.”
The same study identified 7 sites of anomalously high ground radiation levels, including the recently sold abandoned quarry adjacent to the Charlottesville reservoir
Barboursville Uranium
A website sponsored by The Friends of Barboursville, Inc. identifies another potential local uranium site:;
“At the August 29 DMME hearing, Friends of Barboursville presented several USGS and DMME studies that indicate the presence of elevated levels of uranium at the proposed mine site. The areas rich in uranium are strongly correlated with faults depicted on USGS maps. A map produced in 1981 by Leavy, Grosz and Johnson, based on this data, specifically identifies a uranium and thorium anomaly at the proposed mine site. Aerial radiometric data from flights over the Culpeper and Barboursville Basins shows an area of elevated uranium levels extending through Somerset and Barboursville, between Hardwick and Cowherd mountains. Uranium levels up to six times the regional average can be found in this area.
Before the Virginia moratorium on uranium mining, 2,000 acres of land in Orange County was under lease to uranium mining companies. Local residents were approached by Marline Corporation with offers to buy mineral rights to their land… …At least two aerial radiometric studies (a broad study of the Charlottesville quadrangle and a focused study of the Culpeper and Barboursville basins) were done in the early 1980s. Ground-level studies were also done, as part of the USGS Hydrogeochemical Stream Sediment Survey. These surveys clearly show elevated uranium levels in the Barboursville area…”
It is indeed interesting that Marline Uranium Corporation showed an interest, given the home run they found in Pittsylvania.
To Mine Or Not To Mine:
The Southern Environmental Law Center is against lifting the moratorium. They make the case in their Web site fact sheet, which is reproduced in part below:
If Virginia were to lift its moratorium and developed NRC-equivalent regulations, it could apply for "Agreement State" status.
-- An Agreement State replaces NRC as regulator of uranium mills and waste; Agreement States are not required to conduct an EIS for mining activities.
-- Existing Agreement States such as Arizona, Utah and New Mexico have experienced severe problems with environmental impacts from mining..
What are some potential impacts of mining and milling uranium in Virginia?
• Pollution of groundwater and surface waters from overburden, waste rock and ore, including acid drainage, tailings impoundments and other substances in drilling wastes, brines, solvents, etc., used in the extraction or processing of ore.
• Virginia would be the first state east of the Mississippi to allow mining. Virginia has significantly higher precipitation rates, more extreme weather events, including hurricanes, higher groundwater levels, larger watersheds of interconnected streams and rivers, and greater populations living in relative proximity than sites in western U.S. or Canada where uranium has been mined.
• The impact of significant storm events on uranium mining is one of the concerns yet to be adequately addressed.
• Polluted substances in the air and dust caused by extraction.
• Radon from underground mines, drill holes, surface extraction and processing operations.
• Migration of radionuclides and soil disturbances due to loss of vegetative cover.
Virginians shall have to decide if the potential economic benefits and energy needs outweigh the potential environmental and health concerns.
Wick Hunt
Read more, great summary but Keep the Ban
