Va. uranium mining question spawns studies

Posted to: Environment News Virginia
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The Associated Press
© June 22, 2010

By Steve Szkotak

RICHMOND

A uranium mining and milling operation in Southside Virginia would create up to 350 jobs and generate $40 million to $50 million for the local economy.

That is the conclusion of a study commissioned by Virginia Uranium Inc.

A summary of the study was submitted to a legislative panel deciding whether Virginia should end its 1982 moratorium on uranium mining.

The Virginia Coal and Energy Commission's Uranium Mining Subcommittee has scheduled a public meeting tonight in Chatham on one of those studies: a socio-economic analysis.

Virginia Uranium has proposed tapping a 119-million-pound deposit deposit located near the North Carolina border in Pittsylvania County.

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Rosy Picture

Submitted by vb_engr on Tue, 06/22/2010 at 9:57 am.

The conceptual study results are posted here:

http://dls.state.va.us/groups/cec/062210/StudyResults.pdf

As expected, consultant paid by the mining industry paints a pretty rosy picture. How credible the finding are can be easily surmised by claims such as "the revenue would initially range in the vicinity of $100 to $140 million annually..." Based on the stated annual production of about 2 million pounds of yellowcake, this equates to a rather optimistic price of between $50 and $70 per pound of U3O3. Unfortunately, the uranium spot price is in the neighborhood of $40 right now. The projected 30 to 35 years of operation will probably be spread over a century of boom and bust. Read up on New Mexico's uranium mining towns and how well this has worked for them.

Why?

Submitted by sdougan on Tue, 06/22/2010 at 10:48 am.

That's a nice conspiracy theory, but why would a mining company want an unrealistic study? They want to lose money?

WHY???

Submitted by SBH_0311 on Tue, 06/22/2010 at 11:32 am.

Let me break it down for you. The mining company is painting a rosy economic forecast of tax revenue to facilitate the approval of the work by the State. Do you think BP wanted a realistic estimate of how much oil was flowing into the gulf after the spill?