Uranium mining puts Colorado aquifer at risk

[losthills]

http://www.dailycamera.com/news/2008/mar/26/uranium-mine-would-tap-aquifer/

Uranium mine would tap aquifer
Foes fear contamination
By Laura Snider (Contact)
Wednesday, March 26, 2008

A proposed uranium mine in Weld County would tap into an aquifer that lies deep beneath the Denver Basin and sweeps through the southeast corner of Boulder County.

Opponents of the mine -- who fear massive groundwater contamination -- are holding a public meeting tonight in Longmont.

"The aquifer has been used for drinking water for a long time," said Jackie Adolph, spokeswoman for Coloradoans Against Resource Destruction, the group sponsoring the meeting. "There is a real risk of cross-contamination."Canadian-based Powertech Uranium Corp. is part of a new "uranium rush" stimulated by a nearly 2,000 percent increase in the market prices for uranium between 2000 and 2007 and a glut of recently proposed nuclear power plants across the United States.

Powertech is studying the feasibility of mining about 4,750 tons of uranium from its claims in Weld County, though the company has yet to apply for a permit.

A complex basin

The mine would principally use in-situ leaching to remove the ore, a technique that flushes the uranium with oxygenated water, dissolving the uranium before sucking it to the surface. Because the water is drawn from the aquifer surrounding the uranium ore, critics of the process argue that it's impossible to guarantee that the newly mobile uranium won't escape into parts of the aquifer that are tapped by residential wells.

The Denver Basin holds four aquifers stacked on top of one another, and the Laramie-Fox Hills Aquifer, which is home to the uranium ore in Weld County, is the deepest. Mine opponents fear that any contamination of the Laramie-Fox Hills aquifer could spread throughout the entire system, which underlies land bounded by Greeley, Golden, Colorado Springs and Limon.

"It's a very complex setting subsurface," said Travis Stills, an attorney for the Energy Minerals Law Center in Durango. "You have fissures and all kinds of things going on, including old well bores causing connectivity between the aquifers."

[madokie]

1. I'll take my chances with man figuring out what to do with the co2

rather than keeping on keeping on listening to the lies that is nuclear energy.

[CanonRay]

2. They are getting set to mine here in Fremont County as well

and will probably pollute everyone's wells

[Dogmudgeon]

3. Dead project -- it's a moot point

They got a bill passed that will kill the effort.

No contamination, no risk, no mining.

http://www.powertechexposed.com/

Powertech is still doing studies, but that seems to be about it.

If there is that much danger in simple in-situ grinding and washing, how will they be able to prevent natural contamination from happening? They better have some kind of ongoing monitoring available if the risk is that imminent.

--p!

[losthills]

5. The dangers inherent in "in situ " mining are substantial.

Many people balieve this form of mining should be illegal (and not for just uranium.)

No, natural contamination (whatever that is) is not a concern. The ore is stable in the strata where it was deposited and in it's natural condition. In Situ mining operations force solvents down into the ore to dissolve it, and then pump the liquid back to the suface to recover it. The problem is gravity. While the uraniun is dissolved in liquid it will try to work it's way through cracks and fissures down to the natural water table. That's why groundwater contamination is common place wherever this method it used. It's called "mining," but it ain't the Seven Dwarves....

More info on "In Situ" mining here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In-situ_leach

[Zachstar]

4. Looks like this is the new fad. Can't go after the plants so watch google all day for Uranium stuffz

Desperate times eh Losthills? Funds drying up a bit as people realize how stupid the Anti-nuke groups are?