There are now three uranium exploration projects in the southwestern Black Hills.  

One is the Dewey-Burdock project, a large project (over 12,000 acres) that is currently owned by enCore Energy of Texas, but is still known locally by its original owner’s name, Powertech.  This project is partially in Custer County and partially in Fall River County – and right on the Wyoming line.  It needs at least 10 permits before it can start operating.  It has received 5 of them, but 3 of those are under appeal.  The company planned to start mining in 2009, but the project has been on hold at the state level since 2013, and was also stopped for several years by a lawsuit by the Oglala Sioux Tribe.  More recently, citizens of Fall River County have passed a county initiative to block uranium mining.

The Dewey-Burdock project is a good example of the fact that opposing mining projects is a marathon, not a sprint.  The Oglala Sioux Tribe, local citizens, and several groups that are based in Rapid City have worked together over time, showing the importance of coalitions to stopping mining projects.

The other two uranium projects are owned by Basin Uranium, which is based on British Columbia, Canada.  One is the Chord project, which is composed of 3,677 acres east of the Dewey-Burdock project in the Craven Canyon area.  This area had a lot of exploration drilling in the 1970s and is a world-class cultural resources site.  Union Carbide Corp. started mining in Craven Canyon without getting a state mining permit in 1979 and was stopped by legal action by the Black Hills Alliance (BHA), a regional nonprofit group.  This mining was stopped because a local citizen noticed the movement of large equipment into the area and called the BHA.  

The third project was announced by Basin Uranium this year.  It is called the Wolf Canyon project and is composed of 1600 acres of claims.  It is about ten miles east of Edgemont and east of Highway 18.  Union Carbide also drilled in this area in the 1970s.

We will continue to work to stop uranium mining from returning to the Black Hills.  Uranium mining companies were driven out of the Black Hills in the 1980s, and we can do it again!

If you would like to help protect the Water and the Black Hills please consider making a donation today. Any little bit helps. Thank You.