Clean Up at Homestake’s Abandoned Uranium Mines to Cost $500,000

Mineweb reported that the US Environmental Protection Agency has reached an agreement with Homestake Mining Co. that will see the company “assess contamination and address safety hazards” at four abandoned uranium mines.

The mines are on the Navajo Nation, a semi-autonomous territory in portions of Arizona, Utah and New Mexico.

As quoted in the market news:

Jared Blumenfeld, EPA Administrator in the Pacific Southwest Region, said, ‘This work, which will cost about $500,000, is another element in our partnership to deal with the toxic legacy of abandoned uranium mines.’

Ove the next several months, Homestake will conduct extensive radiation survey of the mine sites to measure risks, backfill open holes and mitigate surface features that pose physical threats to people or animals. The company will also post bilingual warning signs around the mine sites, as well as sample surface and subsurface soils in the areas around the mines. This first phase of clean up of the uranium contamination is expected to be completed by fall 2015.

Click here to read the full Mineweb report.