Mining Monitor: Velvet-Wood, Anson royalties, South32 Hermosa Mine
And some photos
The weather in the Four Corners Country was normal for May, which is to say it was absolutely abnormal. Following a long, hot and dry spell, the winds moved in, whipping the orange dust of the Colorado Plateau into a sand-blast to the face — and the rapidly melting snowpack. The airborne dust turned the sky into an orange veil that captured light. Then rain. And in the morning, the air was crisp and clean, and the Abajos and La Sals in southeastern Utah were dusted with snow.
This sort of weather can be confusing, can lift up tents and lawn chairs and send them flying into the ether, and can wreak havoc with predicting spring runoff stream flows. Yet it’s also spectacular, makes the land and sky come alive, and is wonderful for photos. During the windy period I happened upon a herd of free-range horses that seemed to be reveling in the climatic chaos, running, kicking, bucking, and snorting joyfully across the dusty plain. (Jonathan P. Thompson photos).
⛏️ Mining Monitor ⛏️
The Trump administration’s decision to dramatically fast-track the environmental review for Anfield’s proposed Velvet-Wood uranium mine has brought national attention — and opposition — to a project that otherwise might have escaped notice outside of the region.
Reuters ran a story, as did the New York Times, along with quotes from Sarah Fields of Moab-based Uranium Watch, who has kept an eye on this and other mining proposals for years (and likely would have been one of the few people to weigh in on the proposal). The credibility-challenged Daily Mail inexplicably headlined its story thusly: “Small mountain town to become America's nuke hotspot as uranium mine opens.”
I’m not sure what small town they’re talking about, maybe La Sal, or Ucolo, or perhaps that “mountain town” known as Moab. In any event, this mine, alone, isn’t going to make any of those towns into a “hotspot,” either literally or figuratively. And, the story’s claim that the mine would open in 2026 is quite optimistic, even with the sped-up permitting timeline, given that Anfield will still need more state permits to proceed.
The fast-tracking, and the headlines, have stirred up a lot of angst around the project and the environmental review, including among Moab residents and regional and national environmental groups. That’s notable because there are numerous proposals to restart uranium mines or to build new ones in the region — including some by Anfield — yet most have remained relatively under the radar. Energy Fuels’ La Sal mines, also in the Lisbon Valley area, are now producing uranium ore, and drawing fines for safety violations.
Fields, of Uranium Watch, has been monitoring most of the proposals and expressed alarm over the Velvet-Wood fast-tracking. Fields already submitted comments to the Bureau of Land Management’s Monticello Field Office, even though it hasn’t officially opened a public comment period yet (and it’s not entirely clear that it will or how long it would last). She called on the BLM to scrutinize Anfield’s claims around a proposed water treatment plant and pointed out that in earlier operation plan drafts, Anfield made no mention of the need to apply for and receive authorization to construct critical new ventilation shafts. She also brought up numerous other deficiencies in the operating plan.
If the BLM sticks to the expedited “emergency” timeline, it should release the review on May 26.
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Also in the realm of regulatory relief for mining corporations: The Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration, or SITLA, has agreed to reduce royalty rates for Anson Resources’ lithium extraction project under development near Green River, Utah.
Utah’s royalty rate of 5% was already relatively low (Arkansas levies a 12.5% rate on lithium). Anson’s rate will be scaled between 1% and 5% based on lithium’s market price. Under the current price of about $8.77 per kilogram, Anson would pay just 1%; if the price increases, the royalty rate would go up proportionately, with a maximum rate of 5%.
This, of course, is the state royalty rate. There is no royalty on lithium or any other hardrock minerals extracted from federal lands thanks to the 1872 General Mining Law.
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There is fast-tracking a mine application a la Trump (completed in 14 days), and fast-tracking a mine application a la Biden, which takes place over a more reasonable time scale. The latter applies to the South32’s proposal to re-open and expand the Hermosa Mine in southern Arizona to extract battery materials such as manganese and zinc, along with silver and lead. Because those materials are deemed “critical,” the Biden administration expedited the environmental review back in 2023.
Now, almost two years later, the US Forest Service has released the draft Environmental Impact Statement for the project. Note that it took two years, not four weeks — as Trump’s “emergency order” requires — to complete the voluminous document. A 45-day public comment period was launched May 9.
The mine is on patented claims (private land), but would be expanded onto unpatented claims in the Coronado National Forest in southern Arizona’s Patagonia Mountains, an area long inhabited by the Sobaipuri O’odham and Hohokam people. The mountains occupy the nexus of several different biological provinces and are home to hundreds of species of birds, bees, bats, and butterflies, as well as the unique Madrean Pine-Oak Woodlands.
The proposed action, an underground mine, would play out on about 442 surface acres and would restrict access to about 578 acres of public lands. Mining would be done by the long-hole open stope method.
Area residents and advocates worry this sort of industrialization will harm the delicate and unique ecosystem and the diverse array of wildlife that depends on it. As is often the case with underground hardrock mining, a primary concern is for its effects on water quality and quantity. Groundwater pumping is expected to deplete area aquifers, which could affect springs and wells. Acid mine drainage is expected to occur in the sulfide ore body, which, if not treated properly, could contaminate groundwater or streams in the arid region.
Read the draft Environmental Impact Statement and find the link for public comments here.
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📸 Parting Shots 🎞️
Sky series, Goosenecks of the San Juan River, Utah. (Jonathan P. Thompson photos)
Beautiful photos!