Advocates of uranium mining aim for risk study
CHATHAM, Va. – You couldn’t say Walter Coles Sr. is sitting on a pot of gold.
Close, though.
The hundreds of acres of rolling Virginia farmland in his family for five generations contain the largest unmined uranium deposit in the nation, worth an estimated $10 billion.
The existence of the deposit has been known since the 1980s, but a spike in the price of uranium has renewed interest in mining it. That is cause for hope by advocates in a region with an economy crippled by the loss of the textile and tobacco industries and angst among residents who fear radiation contamination.
Coles and his partners have formed Virginia Uranium Inc., but can’t pull ore out of the ground right now. Virginia has a moratorium on uranium mining that was imposed in 1983, when a now-defunct company called Marline Uranium considered extracting the ore here.
If Coles’ company eventually is permitted to mine the ore, it would be the first such enterprise on the East Coast.
The most that can happen anytime soon is that the Virginia General Assembly will approve a study of whether uranium mining can be done safely, and what controls are needed to protect the environment and residents.
That is what Coles wants, and he has offered to pay the bill, which could be $1 million.
“This project will never happen if it doesn’t have the support of the broader population of Virginia,” said Walter Coles Jr., who gave up an investment career in New York to help set up his father’s business. “This study is a way for the people to become educated and understand the issues.”
Virginia Uranium’s foes don’t mind a study, but they think it should be done by health care professionals who are knowledgeable about the effects of radiation, not scientists who work with theories.
The Coleses acknowledge uranium mining’s links to cancer from operations in Western states in the 1950s and 1960s. But they say regulations are more stringent – and technology has improved in recent years – to minimize the risk from the radioactive dust left after uranium ore is milled.
Opponents, 200 of whom turned out for a recent forum, aren’t convinced. They’re concerned that the fine dust, called tailings, will get into their air and water.
Jack Dunavant is chairman of Southside Concerned Citizens, which is leading the opposition.
Dunavant is worried that radiation will contaminate the Banister River, which runs within five miles of the uranium site. Downstream, it flows behind his house and on into a lake that is a source of drinking water for Virginia Beach, the state’s largest city with 435,000 residents.
Marline withdrew in the 1980s not because the opposition drove it out but because the price of uranium fell. From a low of $7 a pound in 2003, the price has risen to $90 to $100, renewing interest in the 110 million pounds of ore on the Coles family property.
Coles Sr. and a neighboring family that has a small part of the deposit decided to form their own company and look into mining the ore, which is on the surface and perhaps 1,500 feet deep.
“Sure I’d like to make a little money off of it,” Coles said. But, he added: “We thought it would be a great asset to the community. So many people are essentially suffering today in this part of the country.”