Saturday, March 15, 2008

Uranium Mining in South Park County


In October 2007 the Horizon Nevada Uranium, Inc. began staking out a Lode Mining Claim in the South Park Ranches Subdivision. The name of the claim is SPK 22. The NOTICE AND CERTIFICATE OF LOCATION is viewable off line.

The financial impact and health risk that will result from any well drilling exploration and following In-Suti Extraction process are enormous. Property values of this subdivision and surrounding subdivision will drop dramatically and substantially lower the tax base for the county. Add to this the uncertainties of the health risks involved and the very real potential of ruining the underground aquafiers and quality of residential well water, this pending mining activity is a disaster looming over our collective heads.

It is imperative that the property owners of South Park unite to do whatever is legally viable to stop this mining company from proceeding any further. They have already alerted the Park County Commissioners and Planning Department of their intentions. They have painted the very best picture possible to convince the Board of Commissioners, the County News Media, the uninformed public that only good things will be the outcome of their activities. The truth in this matter is that the company is only out to profit their stock holders and their concern for the local public welfare is a low priority and of incidental concern. When they ruin our water, depreciate our property value, jeopardize our health, scare our landscape and leave an area unsuitable for habitation, their executives and stockholders will loose little sleep over the mess left behind and be smiling as count their profits at the expense of our very habitat.

I solicit your thoughts and ideas on how to proceed in a united effort to stop this mining venture.


17 comments:

dm said...

Good piece, thanks.

Mr. Wilson of New Horizon Uranium said when they are done with our water, "You can't clean it up to the point where it will ever be satisfactory" (The Flume, February 29, 2008)

That tells you what we will be left with when he is spending his profit in Aruba.

dm

clicker said...

We on the Board of Directors for the Wildwood Recreational Village Owners Association are mass e-mailing and postal mailing our property owners to this situation. If the HOAs present a united front, I believe we can disallow these operations.

Anonymous said...

This will become an economic dead zone for all of South Park County. Proerty values will diminish and and our tourism feature attraction will be radioactive glowing fish and animals. (you won't need night goggles to hunt)

Anonymous said...

I think we need to attend the public hearings and be prepared to have our minds open, perhaps learn somehtiing about the proposed project and think before jumping to sensational conclusions. There are many mining operations that use this type of process and have been successful and good for the community. Check out this other site: http://alloneriver.blog.infomine.com/2008/04/01/south-park-colorado-mining-lack-of-foresight/

Anonymous said...

I am a property owner in Wildwood, please excuse my lack of knowledge on this subject, but how can a mining company just start poking holes in the land without the land owners permission? Is it not just as simple as saying "NO, you can't mine on my property?" I am in the process of educating myself on this issue, I received my letter from my HOA yesterday. I am concerned.

Jenni said...

I have owned property in South Park for just over a year or so. Currently I live in Texas am about to move up there to break ground for my home in May. I am very concered that I have already socked $20,000 into this venture and am JUST NOW hearing about this. I have the land paid for. I have installed a well. I have purchased a 40ft travel trailer which is sitting on the land now, three trips up there for a grand or so each and upteen other smaller expenses. I can't help but be concerned that I am hearing about this now and that I had to learn about it through a contractor who was subbmitting an estimate for our foundation. I actually thought he was kidding at first. How could I be learning about something so important in such a way? The county tax office sure knows how to reach me...so I'm not that hard to find! The thing that makes me even angier is that I specifically asked anyone I could get on the phone if they were aware of any future plans in the works for this subdivision before I purchased this land and the answer was always no. None of the people I have hired to work for me up there on the land have said a word either. Is this as serious of an issue as I fear it is or is there a real chance that this can be stopped? My land is right off of San Juan and Boulder so it appears that I am going to be right in the thick of it. Bu then I can see the resivoir from the land so I can't believe that this sort of activity would be permitted so close to a major water source. I guess what I am asking is that if it were you...would you proceed as planned and try to help the good fight or would you cut your losses before you get in too deep? Thanks in advance for anyone's advice.

Jenni

Junior Hernandez - In Memory (Sept. 22, 2019) said...

Jenni,

Thanks for your interest and concern. We're trying to get a grass roots movement
going and we need all the help we can get. As you can tell, my attempt at getting a
website is rather lame. You do what you can with the skills you possess. I certainly
can use your skills in putting up a more presentable website and get something
on a ISP site without advertisement. We are a low / no budget operation at this
time and don't anticipate soliciting for funds. So what ever we've has been an out
of pocket type thing. With that said, we appreciate any help you can give us.

What links aren't working?
Suggestion to improve current site.
Ideas on alternative hosting locations, etc

Thanks Again

P.S.
You might want to slow down your
plans for buying / building for the
immediate future. This may all go
well for us or it may go down the
tube. That why we're fighting.

Anonymous said...

I have just recently heard about the intentions of the mining company. From what I understand through my ex-mother-in-law who lives off of Elkhorn Rd, my 5 acre lot is already surveyed for the exploratory drilling! I'll be up there this weekend to verify, but how can they do that without even asking me??? I've been looking to find out what my rights are as a property owner, but I'm having problems finding any information. Can anyone help me out as to where to find the information I need? They may own the minerals under the surface, but I DO own the surface!

Anonymous said...

When you buy property you are only buying the surface, you can purchase water rights from aquifers, but you do not own the mineral rights unless you have acquired them separately. Companies must pay for surface access and disturbance to produce, and hopefully explore for oil, gas, or minerals. The main question to ask is "are they exploring for uranium and associated minerals, or are they mining them?". There is a huge difference between these issues. Exploring is merely to determine if there are economic deposits. The price of uranium is quite high now, but not high enough to produce from sub-economic deposits. Drilling information is recorded with the state. Also, the wells in Park County are probably mostly from fractured granites and other rocks, these are not connected aquifers. Fractured rocks are also poor candidates for in-situ leach, a process that is better applied to sandstones and other porous rocks. Water well info is stored with the Colorado Division of Water Resources http://water.state.co.us/. Other water info is at http://cwcb.state.co.us/

Jenni said...

Hi Ramon,

Sorry I have not replied sooner. I am moving forward with the move becuase I don't have much of a choice. My current lease is up soon here and the place I am in now won't last much longer before falling down so the choice has been made for me. I have been busy making plans and we are moving in three weeks, so I have simply been burried.

Anyway, I am more than happy to help as my future depends on this issue just as yours does. I will have web space I can donate as soon as I can clear some space out of my server, so that's taken care of. You should search for an available domain name that you like and email me or post it here. Then I can purchase it at my discounted rate. Just go to www.gkg.net and type in domain names that you would like and sooner or later one of them will come up as being available.

Most of the links that were not working were in the area where you show snippets of comments but the link that took you to the rest of the comment does not work in most cases. I also noticed quite a few images that are not showing either. Usually that is just the link to it being wrong. These are mostly on the other site, but I can't seem to be able to find that one now :-(

I welcome any thoughts or ideas on how you want the site to work and look. I can pretty much do anything you want with it (within reason). So why don't you get some ideas down on paper for me and in about a month or so after I get settled, I can devote some time to go over everything with you and start working on the new site.

In the meantime ... I gotta run. I'll check in here more often and keep in touch.

Jenni

Anonymous said...

The power to litigate is the power to destroy, this should apply to any economic incentive the minning company is projecting.

Erik Hunter said...

Most of the comments here are typical of the hysteria that surrounds the word "uranium". To the uninformed, it is frightening, conjuring up images of glowing things. In reality, it does not glow, and has been a part of our natural world since the creation of the universe. See http://www.physics.isu.edu/radinf/natural.htm . ISL mines like the proposed Park County project create little disturbance of the land or surface waters as compared to other types of development such as residential housing. At the Smith Ranch ISL Mine, where I worked, the wildlife was abundant and relatively tame. Wyoming DEQ studies found no increased levels of uranium in the wildlife. As far as contaminating the subsurface waters, the risk is very low. The ISL process pumps out more water than in pumps in, so the surrounding waters migrate towards the aquifer being mined. The water in the uranium-bearing horizon is not usable for drinking, irrigation, or livestock anyhow, as it is naturally contains high levels of uranium. Some oppose uranium mining because they don't like nuclear power. Nuclear power is the only source of carbon neutral electricity that works 24 hours a day, rain or shine. Ask yourself, would you want an arsenic mine, cadmium mine, copper mine, petrochemical plant or an aluminum smelter in Park county? Before you answer that question, you should know that arsenic, cadmium, and copper are used in solar panels. Aluminum, copper, petrochemicals, and aggregate are used in the production of wind turbines. If you want electricity, you need these elements, which have to be mined. If you oppose mining, you should be prepared to live without its benefits. My guess is that most of the residents of Park County would not last the winter without pickup trucks, propane, and electricity. Park County has long been a center of uranium mining. The Garo deposit was worked back in the 50's (http://www.mindat.org/loc-117733.html). I visited this location in 2007, and it was so well remediated that it was impossible to find, proving that even an open pit mine can be properly reclaimed.

Anonymous said...

Erik Hunter:
Why in the world are you sending this e-mail now (5/17/9)? It's a dead issue....for the moment. I don't object to the mining and the end-product. I do object to any proposed mining in areas inhabited by humans and livestock.
Do your research on the 4 Corners tribes in Colorado and their astronomial cancers rates. Their water supply is forever contaminated. But then I guess native Americas don't matter when it comes to the almighty dollar!

Unknown said...

Dear "Anonymous" I am posting to this site for the same reason that you are, because I like a good debate, and the issue is not "dead". I did some research on the 4 corners tribes. I feel terrible about the suffering endured there. It seems that the radon levels were not controlled in the mines back then. Since the early 1970's, strict laws have mandated that the radon be controlled through ventilation. If you have ever been in an operating uranium mine, you would know what I am talking about. The amount of wind whistling through the stopes is amazing! Many Indian and non-Indian miners smoked cigarettes back then, which makes the cancer risk 100X worse. Also, diesel particulates contributed to lung cancers. The standards for diesel particulates in mines have been since been tightened. I wouldn't worry about the ISR mine polluting your water supply. As long as you are not currently drawing your water from the uranium-bearing aquifer that occurs there naturally, you should be fine.

Anonymous said...

I am considering buying some property in South Park Ranches. What's the deal with uranium exploration to mine? Where is this taking place?

Anonymous said...

So did it happen?

Anonymous said...

The mining issue became a non-issue after the Nuclear Power Plant meltdown in Japan.
Future interest may peak with the the Green Movement pushing for 100% non fossil fuel
energy sources