Looking for gold in uranium mining

Photos by Laurie Edwards

Granite containing uranium pokes through the gravel road through Coles Hill where an estimated 119 pounds of uranium occupy two ore deposits.

Patrick Wales, project manager for Virginia Uranium, uses a handheld radiation detector to measure levels along Coles Hill Road.

A very heavy metal is at the heart of a controversy brewing in one of the three counties surrounding the lake. A large deposit of uranium, the heaviest of the radioactive elements, was discovered on two family farms in Pittsylvania County 32 years ago. The families, and their company, want to mine it, but they need state permission to do so.

As the state studies whether to lift a 28-year moratorium on uranium mining, blogs decrying or praising the move have cropped up on the Internet and public meetings have been heated. While uranium is an inexpensive source of energy and electricity, environmental and health impacts from its radiation could be detrimental. It may be the largest showdown over metal in Virginia's 222-year history.

People across the country are watching as it unfolds; a mine that large could impact the United States' dependence on foreign energy sources.

Uranium discovery

At Coles Hill, about six miles northeast of Chatham, there are two untapped ore bodies being touted as the largest uranium deposit in the United States. They were discovered in 1978 by Marline Uranium, a Canadian uranium mining company.

Patrick Wales, project manager for Virginia Uranium, which wants to mine the mineral, said Marline was searching for uranium deposits along the East Coast because of the geological similarities to uranium-laden land in Canada.

"They initiated airborne radiometric surveys to look for radiation response," he said. "That is an indicator; it certainly does not mean you have a uranium deposit."

Marline representatives returned to promising sites, first by helicopter and then by car. Wales said the logistics allowed Marline to get more accurate readings.

"You have to be low and slow, that's kind of the motto for uranium exploration," he said. "You have to be low enough to register the response and slow enough so that you don't miss it."

As their car traveled Coles Road, Marline representatives struck gold.

The deposit they found is estimated to contain 119 million pounds of uranium. In 1978, uranium was trading at about $40 per pound, said Wales. At those rates, Marline had discovered almost $5 billion worth of uranium.

The company reached lease agreements with the property owners and dug exploratory holes, said Wales. Because Virginia did not have regulations in place for uranium mining, then-Gov. Charles Robb initiated a moratorium on the practice in 1982 while the issue was studied.

A 1984 report from the Uranium Subcommittee of the Virginia Coal and Energy Commission was favorable for mining. Of 18 committee members, 16 concluded the moratorium could be lifted if regulations were established.

The conclusion came a few years too late for Marline. In March 1979, an accident at Three Mile Island, a nuclear plant in Pennsylvania, changed the public perception of nuclear power.

H.L. Dodds, IBM professor and head of the Nuclear Engineering Department at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tenn., said the public response was extreme.

"Nobody was killed, nobody was even injured, and that's the worst accident we [the United States] ever had," he said. "We had a partial core meltdown, but the system was designed to deal with something like that and it worked."

A potential tragedy was averted, said Dodds. But the general populace and the U.S. government didn't see it that way. Proposed nuclear plants across the country were abandoned. And in the early 1980s, the price of uranium bottomed out.

"The price of uranium had dropped from almost $40 a pound to $7 almost overnight," said Wales.

The price hovered around $7 or $8 for the next 20 years and the country's largest uranium deposit was all but forgotten.

A new generation

In the last decade, the market price for uranium began to creep back up, hitting $20 in 2004. In 2007, it topped out above $130. As early as 2004, representatives from uranium companies started knocking on the doors of Pittsylvania County landowners Walter Coles Sr. and Henry Bowen.

"They entertained many generous offers from pretty much every major uranium mining company around the world," said Wales.

But the two farming families, whose ancestors first occupied the property as early as 1785, were hesitant to take the massive checks. Coles said protecting the homesteads was critical to him and Bowen.

"Money has never been a factor in our moving forward," said Coles, who retired several years ago from a career as a foreign services officer. "It could have been different 30 years ago; money would be more important."

Coles said he and Bowen wanted to ensure the project's benefits, both economic and employment, stayed local.

"We decided that for the community and neighbors that it would be better if we would launch a company and do it ourselves," said Coles. "It would be Virginians taking the lead on it, Virginians owning it and Virginians being employed."

The Coles and Bowen families established Virginia Uranium Inc. in 2007 and restarted the efforts Marline began almost 30 years ago. The company merged with Santoy Resources Ltd., a Canadian mining company, in July 2009.

The Uranium Mining Subcommittee was formed from the Virginia Coal and Energy Commission to again study the issue.

Recently, the subcommittee tasked the National Academy of Sciences to conduct a study on the environmental and technical facets of the mine. It is expected to offer insight into whether uranium can be mined safely in Virginia, which has a far different climate from the Midwest, where the majority of United States' uranium mines are located. The study is expected to take 18 months.

Del. Charles Poindexter, R-Franklin County, said it's important for people to wait to pass judgment on the proposed mining until the study is completed and can be analyzed.

"There's two sides to everything," said Poindexter. "There's certainly economic benefits, potential economic benefits for Pittsylvania County, as well as the nation.

"On the other hand, there's potential for environmental degradation," he continued. "I think it's premature to come down hard on either side until one knows the scientific considerations."

A second study, this one to study the socioeconomic effects of mining the Coles Hill site, was approved in April by the Virginia Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission. The study would examine effects within a 50-mile radius, which includes Smith Mountain Lake, of the proposed mine.

It is one of a few socioeconomic studies being undertaken by various groups, all of which will take months to complete.

Energy and radioactivity

As far as elements go, uranium packs a punch in terms of energy potential. Although it has been used for thousands of years, the official discovery occurred in 1789. Martin Klaproth, a German chemist, got credit and naming rights, giving it a moniker after the planet Uranus.

Uranium is naturally occurring and is found is almost every inch of the Earth in some potency. According to the World Nuclear Association, it can be found "in most rocks in concentrations of 2 to 4 parts per million." By contrast, the uranium deposits in Coles Hill have a grade of 600 parts per million, or 0.06 percent, said Wales.

Since Virginia Uranium proposed mining it, both advocates and opponents have spoken out. One of the hot-button issues is the potential exposure to unhealthy levels of radiation.

Dodds said radiation occurs naturally from anything emitting energy. It comes from the soil, space, rocks, plants, even people.

"We live in a radioactive world," he said.

According to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which monitors and oversees nuclear power across the country, the average person is exposed to about 300 millirems of radiation every year.

According to the NRC's website, "No adverse health effects have been discerned from doses arising from these levels of natural radiation exposure."

Those levels, known as background radiation, can fluctuate depending on lifestyle. People living in higher-altitude regions, who fly frequently, smoke cigarettes or have frequent medical X-rays are exposed to higher levels of radiation.

NRC regulations limit exposure to the public from uranium mines to 25 millirems, about the equivalent of a full-mouth dental X-ray.

Extended or concentrated exposure, such as to those living near a nuclear bomb explosion, has been linked to cancer, according to the American Cancer Society. Not all radiation is potentially cancerous, however. Ionizing radiation is a known carcinogen, with sources including X-rays, nuclear plants, uranium mines and natural elements in the soil and air.

Nonionizing radiation has not been linked to increased cancer risks, according to the ACS. Examples include power lines, cellphones, microwave ovens, televisions and computer monitors.

Because of the risk associated with long-term or concentrated radiation exposure, the NRC regulates emissions from nuclear power plants and uranium mines.

"It has to be done in a way that is not going to contaminate," said Dodds. "Accidents can happen, so it's a possibility, but it's not going to be an event of high probability."

Follow the Uranium Mining Subcommittee's progress online at dls.state.va.us/groups/cec/uranium/meetings.htm.