Government scientists have gathered data to answer the question of whether a new uranium mining operation will contaminate the Grand Canyon region.
Scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey spent two years collecting and analyzing soil samples from around the Canyon Mine near Tusayan. The study gives them a baseline of the environment they can use to compare with future soil samples.
The mine on U.S. Forest Service land was approved in the 1980s, but ore never was pulled from the ground.
Energy Fuels Resources Inc. owns the mine and is further sinking the shaft to open it soon. The company recently wrapped up uranium mining at a site near the Arizona-Utah border.
The federal government has banned the filing of new mining claims in the region.
