First Uranium Mines to Dig in the US in Eight Years Begin Operations Near Grand Canyon
January 15, 2024
Three uranium mines have gone into production along the Arizona-Utah border, with more on the way elsewhere in the Mountain West, as market conditions for the mineral needed for nuclear energy improve in response to a global push to reduce the consumption of fossil fuels to slow climate change.
But the mines, which were the first to begin operations in the U.S. in eight years when they began extracting ore in late December, are drawing fierce criticism from tribes and environmentalists. One of the mines in Arizona is located in a new national monument President Biden designated last year, while the other two are located in Utah’s quarter of the Four Corners region, where the impacts of 20th-century uranium mining persist to this day.
