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World Nuclear News reported that a group led by Virginia Uranium has filed its second lawsuit challenging Virginia’s moratorium on uranium mining. The first lawsuit, which was filed earlier this year, is still ongoing.
World Nuclear News reported that a group led by Virginia Uranium has filed its second lawsuit challenging Virginia’s moratorium on uranium mining. The first lawsuit, which was filed earlier this year, is still ongoing.
As quoted in the market news:
The latest challenge has been filed in the Circuit Court of Wise County by Washington law firm Cooper & Kirk, on behalf of plaintiffs Virginia Uranium, Coles Hill LLC, Bowen Minerals LLC and Virginia Energy Resources Inc. They ask the court either to order the Commonwealth of Virginia to permit the plaintiffs to exercise their right, under Virginia’s constitution, to mine the uranium situated on their property, or to provide compensation.
Charles Cooper of Cooper & Kirk said the plaintiffs were entitled to an order invalidating the state’s ban on uranium mining or “at minimum” an award of compensation for the “full value” of the mineral reserve. The mineral reserve beneath Coles Hill, in southern Virginia’s Pittsylvania county, is worth $6 billion, Virginia Energy Resources said.
“Substantial sums of money have been invested by the plaintiffs in their effort to develop the valuable deposit of uranium beneath their land. Virginia’s ban, however, amounts to an absolute bar to mining uranium, preventing the plaintiffs even from taking the basic step of applying for a mining permit. This is a clear, unconstitutional taking of the plaintiffs’ private property,” Cooper said.
The Coles Hill uranium deposit, first discovered in 1978, contains measured resources of 3260 tU and indicated resources of 42,800 tU. Virginia Uranium Inc was granted an exploration permit in 2007.