News - Local
New Colorado rules for uranium mining
Posted: Aug 13, 2010 6:24 AM by Bea Karnes, News First 5
State officials have approved new rules intended to protect Colorado's groundwater during a type of uranium mining that extracts the mineral by injecting a solution underground.
The requirements approved Thursday by the Mined Land Reclamation Board include detailed environmental protection plans for uranium mines and maintaining existing groundwater quality or at state standards. Mine applications must include detailed information on the pre-mining water quality. Public input will be allowed.
The rules carry out three laws passed by the Legislature in 2008 out of concern about in-situ, or "in place," mining, which injects a solution underground to dissolve and extract the mineral. An in-situ uranium mine has been proposed about 70 miles north of Denver.
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