Tag: mining
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Can Colorado reinvent its uranium legacy?
Uranium mining in Colorado has a bright future. George Glasier believes that. From his cattle ranch near Nucla, Colo., where sagebrush valleys give way to rugged canyons, Glasier leads a company working to restart old uranium mines and build a new ore processing plant. This push comes at a pivotal time for an industry that’s…
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Soul of Sopris: Remembering a Colorado town now under water
One day in 1970, Giuseppe Incitti took a pencil to paper and grieved the loss of his southern Colorado home. “Consider the town of Sopris finished,” he wrote, translated from his native Italian. “It will be buried under water.” The dam would rise, Trinidad Lake would fill, and Sopris would be but a memory. The…
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Uranium mining: A Colorado company pumps out ore, with implications for economy and national security
Travis Chiotti puts a brass tag bearing his name on a hook on the “in” board before heading 1,400 feet down-shaft. It’s a pair — the other tag goes in his pocket. Just in case. Helmet, headlamp, heavy steel-toed rubber boots, emergency respirator. (function(w,d,s,i){w.ldAdInit=w.ldAdInit||[];w.ldAdInit.push({slot:11095963150525286,size:[0, 0],id:”ld-2426-4417″});if(!d.getElementById(i)){var j=d.createElement(s),p=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];j.async=true;j.src=”//cdn2.lockerdomecdn.com/_js/ajs.js”;j.id=i;p.parentNode.insertBefore(j,p);}})(window,document,”script”,”ld-ajs”); Check. Mining is hard work. Simply moving around is…
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Uranium mining in the Grand Canyon: A dispute over water and geology
To critics, the mine poses too much of a risk. To the company, that claim is unsubstantiated. Amber Reimondo, energy director for the Grand Canyon Trust, said the risk of uranium and other minerals migrating out of the mine after mining is completed is too great and too uncertain to allow further mining operations. (function(w,d,s,i){w.ldAdInit=w.ldAdInit||[];w.ldAdInit.push({slot:11095963150525286,size:[0, 0],id:”ld-2426-4417″});if(!d.getElementById(i)){var…
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Uranium mining in the Grand Canyon: 1,470 feet below surface
Unlike strip mines, the Pinyon Plain mine’s surface impact is only 14 acres. The geological formation containing the uranium ore body, called a “breccia pipe,” is about 250 feet in diameter and extends vertically down some 3,000 feet. To mine the ore, a vertical shaft was drilled and blasted down into the rock to the…
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Protection or overreach? In western Colorado, national monument proposal ignites controversy
Sean Pond was around a small town of his native western Colorado when he spotted a man in a blue ball cap. Above the bill were the words at the center of an ongoing controversy: “PROTECT THE DOLORES.” Pond approached the man. “He said someone at REI just gave it to him and he liked…
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Protection vs. overreach: In western Colorado, national monument proposal ignites controversy
Sean Pond was around a small town of his native western Colorado when he spotted a man in a blue ball cap. Above the bill were the words at the center of an ongoing controversy: “PROTECT THE DOLORES.” Pond approached the man. “He said someone at REI just gave it to him and he liked…
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The story of the house atop Colorado’s tallest waterfall
They are two of the most common questions Kiernan Lannon fields at Telluride Historical Museum. “What’s going on with that house? Whose house is that?” the museum’s executive director said. “Which is a nice point of entry to talk about electricity here.” The history of electricity has a significant place around Telluride. And, indeed, there…
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The story of the house atop Colorado’s tallest waterfall
They are two of the most common questions Kiernan Lannon fields at Telluride Historical Museum. “What’s going on with that house? Whose house is that?” the museum’s executive director said. “Which is a nice point of entry to talk about electricity here.” The history of electricity has a significant place around Telluride. And, indeed, there…
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The discovery, mill and tunnel that shaped Colorado’s gold destiny
IDAHO SPRINGS • A stone monument stands near a junction of highways that was once known as a junction of creeks. It stands inconspicuous, just a rock atop a block. It’s been even easier to miss lately, surrounded by orange construction wrap, lost in the hubbub. “It’s an important spot of Colorado history that nobody…