The proposed October Jinx Project is part of the Chord Project. The Chord Project is composed of 3,677 acres east of the Dewey-Burdock project in the Craven Canyon area in the southern Black Hills.
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This area had 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 at that time. This mining was stopped because a local citizen noticed the movement of large equipment into the area and called the BHA. Now, we must move fast to protect this sacred landscape.
The company that has asked for a permit for the October Jinx Project is “Clean” Nuclear Energy Corp. (CNEC), a subsiderary of Nexus Uranium Corp. (Nexus) of Canada. On September 16, 2025, Nexus acquired Basin Uranium Corp., a previous involved company, consolidating the U.S. portfolio under Nexus and continuing permitting at the Chord Project through CNEC. These 3,677 acres, located in Fall River County, straddle state and federal lands.
IMPORTANT UPDATES:
SECOND URANIUM EXPLORATION PROJECT THREATENS CRAVEN CANYON
COMMENT PERIOD – FEBRUARY 2 – MARCH 3, 2026.
A Canadian company has applied for a second time to explore for radioactive uranium at Craven Canyon in the southern Black Hills. This project is named the October Jinx Project, which is on federal land. It is part of the larger Chord Project. The company is named Clean Nuclear Energy Corporation (CNEC), which is a subsidiary of Nexus Uranium. (Note that nothing about nuclear energy is “clean,” including uranium drilling and mining.)
The U.S. Forest Service has requested public comments on this proposed project, with a due date of March 3, 2026, 11:59 pm (Mountain).
What’s so special about Craven Canyon?
Craven Canyon is a world-class cultural and historic site. It contains rock art and other artifacts that are 7,000+ years old. Many artifacts and sites of interest have been found in and around the Canyon, where people gather for ceremony and study. The October Jinx project would involve 17 drill pads with drilling depths down to 700 feet. Each drill site would use 5,000 to 10,000 gallons of water per day.
What are some potential impacts of the October Jinx Project?
“…there is potential for damage of the unique values associated with this area from future mining activities.” ~ Environmental Assessment, Craven Canyon Mineral Withdrawal, June 2011, Page 10, Purpose and Need for Action.
In addition to the importance of Craven Canyon, here are some of the things you might want to comment on (but use your own words and pick the topics that are important to you). We have provide you with some talking points:
Talking Points.
- Drilling activities would be seen and heard throughout the area, These would include noise, traffic, and visual impacts which would disturb ceremony, study, wildlife, recreation, and historical sites.
- Uranium exploration drives off wildlife and can cause radioactive and toxic contamination of water and land.
- The company plans to drill directly into an aquifer and may drill 24 hours a day, creating noise, lights, and traffic.
- The company wants to put drilling wastes – which could be radioactive and toxic – into 17 unlined pits.
- The October Jinx project would also include pumping 130,000 gallons of water into a four-foot-deep, unlined 50’ x 50’ discharge pit.
- Pumping activities would also move water between drill holes to test the aquifer. This could push contamination from one part of the aquifer to another.
- Heavy water trucks and drilling equipment would be transported off roads, creating 1.3 miles of what the company calls “overland travel.”
- The area is dry and slow to recover from drilling and heavy equipment operation, making true reclamation difficult to impossible. Disturbance from drilling in the 1950s – 1970s is clearly visible in the area.
- The company says that the October Jinx Project would take 2 months. The Forest Service’s recent paperwork says that it would authorize the project for 1 year. But the company’s application (Plan of Operations) says that the project would be approved until December 15, 2029.
- The company’s application does not mention that world-class cultural and archeological resources would be impacted. In fact, it does not mention them at all.
- Because of the extraordinary circumstances, the Forest Service should do a full Environmental Impact Statement for the October Jinx Project, not just let it go ahead as the government has proposed.
Comment on this proposed project: Go to https://cara.fs2c.usda.gov/Public/CommentInput?Project=67625 or use the QR code.
Tell them who you are, where you’re from, and why you care about protecting the Craven Canyon area. Use your own words. The Canyon is truly extraordinary.
SUBMIT YOUR COMMENTS TO THE FOREST SERVICE BY MARCH 3, 2026.
Forest Service’s Portal to Comment/Object on Project @ https://cara.fs2c.usda.gov/Public/CommentInput?Project=67625
Public Comment/Objection Reading Room @ https://cara.fs2c.usda.gov/Public/ReadingRoom?Project=67625
Click the following to review the Forest Service folders/documents for this Project #67625: https://www.fs.usda.gov/r02/blackhills/projects/67625
Below is the October Jinx Project’s Plan of Operations (POO) submitted by CNEC to USDA, Forest Service for Mining Activities on National Forest System Lands.
FEDERAL REVIEW OF THE OCTOBER JINX PROJECT COMING IN JANUARY 2026
Nexus Uranium has announced that the Federal scoping process for the October Jinx project will begin in mid-January 2026. This proposed uranium exploration drilling project is the portion of the Chord Uranium Project that is on Forest Service-controlled land at Craven Canyon near Edgemont, South Dakota. This is separate from the company’s project on state-controlled land in the same area, which CNEC’s Chord Project is now a contested case with efforts to protect Craven Canyon, and ancient sacred site with cultural and historical resources dating back more than 7000 years.
In the October Jinx’s Plan of Operations (POO) they could have up to seventeen 60 ft x 60 ft drill pads, with vertical exploration holes to a maximum depth of 700 ft. The project would draw from municipal and private water sources and use 5,000 – 10,000 gallons of water per day under normal conditions.
When the Scoping process begins, we will post instructions on how to submit your public opinion comments to the Forest Service for this project. Currently, the Forest Service has proposed allowing uranium drilling to proceed without further environmental review under a Categorical Exclusion (CE).
View October Jinx’s POO Submitted to the SD DANR – click here.
Click here for link to the SD DANR Minerals and Mining page for more information about these two uranium exploration projects.
https://danr.sd.gov/Environment/MineralsMining/Exploration/NewEXNIS.aspx
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