HRI president
defends uranium mining process
Can't attend reservation meetings
By
Kathy Helms
Diné Bureau
FORT DEFIANCE — The president of Hydro Resources
Inc. says that as much as he would like to attend today's uranium in-situ
leach mining
forum
at Red Rock State Park, it's just not possible.
Mark Pelizza, president and key contact person for HRI, contacted The
Independent Friday from HRI's Lewisville, Texas, office, saying he did
not receive a notice
from Church Rock Chapter about the meeting until Thursday morning and did not
receive an agenda from Eastern Dine Against Uranium Mining (ENDAUM), sponsor
of the forum, until around 8 p.m. Thursday.
"They have several experts there. I just haven't had time to get our expert
on the other line yet. It's unfortunate. What we'll do is strongly recommend
that we reschedule it because we encourage these types of meetings," Pelizza
said.
ENDAUM is hosting the uranium forum today at the Red Rock State Park Convention
Center. On the agenda is a technical presentation by Richard Abitz and Mike
Wallace for ENDAUM. Pelizza, in a letter to Church Rock officials dated Friday,
said, "Because
of the late notice it has been impossible to make the necessary arrangements
to attend. Given that Dr. Abitz and Mr. Wallace are planning to present technical
information, I believe that it is important to have our expert, Mr. Bartels,
there. However, I have not been able to reach him and have a previous commitment
myself.
In the absence of HRI experts, today's uranium forum will continue as planned
with presentations on ISL mining by ENDAUM's technical experts.
Pelizza said there's nothing wrong with HRI's process and he believes that
good communication among all parties involved will resolve concerns, "but
we just haven't had the ability to have that communication yet. We strongly,
strongly
encourage that communication."
ISL, or solution mining is very different from conventional mining that has
occurred on Navajoland in the past, according to Pelizza. "Solution mining
involves drilling wells into the ore zone and circulating the natural water.
To the natural
water we add oxygen, and possibly the addition of slight amounts of carbonate
'club soda.'
"The oxygen primarily will oxidize or rust the uranium. When uranium is
rusted it's easily washed from the rock with a club soda solution. It's pumped
to the surface and the uranium is removed from the water with an ion exchange
system, which is essentially a very large Culligan water softener. And that's
really the mining process."
Of course, it would be on a much larger scale, he said. When mining is complete,
the water is filtered through a reverse osmosis unit to clean it to concentrations
that were essentially equivalent to background conditions. But Pelizza cautioned,"The
water in these uranium ore bodies prior to mining is rich in uranium, so it's
returned to levels of uranium concentrations in the water that may have existed
prior to mining."
The president of HRI hailed last week's decision by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission that postpones his company's plans to go ahead with ISL mining on
Section 8 until after HRI submits documents pertaining to financial assurance.
In the first phases of the hearing for Church Rock Section 8, according to
Pelizza, the judge ruled, that all safety concerns had been met, including
groundwater
quality concerns. "In terms of any safety issues, he concurred with HRI
and the NRC staff. What he did request is essentially three different pieces
of additional information that I look at as housekeeping-type items. One, he
requested that we use a procedure for plugging wells that was essentially what
the Intervenors (ENDAUM) wanted. It's called a tremie tube procedure. What
that is, is it's the difference between pumping the cement into the well from
the
bottom up vs. pumping the cement into the well from the top down."
Pelizza said there is not a huge difference in costs, and though his company
has always plugged its wells from the top down, "if the NRC wants it from
the bottom up, we'll do it from the bottom up, if the state engineer approves
it. Otherwise it would be satisfactory to do it from the top down."
A tremie tube, he explained, is essentially a hose "which we fish down to
the bottom of the well and pump cement from the bottom of the well till it flows
to the surface."The opposite way is how cement is poured for dams and bridge
columns."That is, as you pour the cement, which is heavier than water,
from the top of the well it pushes the water into the rock and sort of settles
all
the way into the well."
Which method is better is a matter of engineering opinion, he said."There
is a concern that if you do it from the top down air bubbles may form in the
concrete and it will not be as good. Whatever way it's required is what we
will do."
Other items mentioned in the NRC order involved the way HRI calculates labor
costs. "Being a mining company, an individual would wear what we say 'many
different hats.' And that was questioned," according to Pelizza. "For
example, if you have a person who is a maintenance foreman, would a maintenance
foreman be someone that does electrical work and pipefitting work and welding?
Or should we have separate electricians, pipefitters and welders?
"The NRC judge agreed that we probably would have to have three different
people, or get a bid from an independent contractor. And that's what we're going
to do. We'll just get the bids from an independent contractor," he said.
The other item pertained to equipment and capital costs. "In our business
there is a huge amount of equipment that is part of the operation. There's water
treatment facilities, there's pumps, there's motors. The concern was that if
a company like ours was to walk, or to go bankrupt, that possibly the banks or
someone would foreclose on the equipment and would take it off site and it wouldn't
be available to do the reclamation," Pelizza said.
Mining at HRI's Church Rock and Crownpoint, N.M., locations isn't scheduled
to come online for a number of years yet. "We're not under a tremendous time
pressure," Pelizza said. "All of this is fitting into our plan for
the schedule of these operations. The price of uranium now is just improving
to the point that the projects are becoming economic. So over the course of,
I would say the next two to four months, we'll get the contractors' bids in
line and we'll submit this information."
There are other permits that are required, one being an aquifer exemption.
Pelizza said the need to obtain that permit is "a matter of opinion. Our opinion
is that we have one." Also, he said, there is a jurisdictional issue which
must be resolved regarding an underground injection control permit. "We've
got to work with EPA to acquire that one, but those are all standard authorizations
that are required for this type of activity."
Pelizza also takes issue with claims from ISL opponents that money included
in the energy bill will be funneled to HRI's parent company, Uranium Resources
Inc.,
in Texas, thus freeing up existing funds for use by HRI to conduct ISL mining
in New Mexico.
"That's just untrue. If you go read the plain language in the energy bill,
it's prohibited to be used for any operation in New Mexico. ... There has been
a lot of noise over this issue now for the better part of two years and I,
quite frankly, think it's a red herring to get everybody agitated. To me the
plain
language of the bill says that no sites in New Mexico would qualify."
Even so, presuming that were true, he said, "The math just doesn't square
with what our opponents are claiming that we may do with offset funds." |
Weekend
March 6 , 2004
Selected Stories:
Suit
alleges school official is a racist
HRI
president defends uranium mining process
Chinle
students ROC steady!
A
chicken in every pot?
Psst...Need a ride?
Richardson
signs several education bills
Cattlemen want to beef up sales
Deaths |
