This page is to keep you informed about those mining projects which are subject to the Federal Level scoping and permitting processes, comment deadlines, and information.
You can also find a variety of projects in the Black Hills National Forest Service’s webpage – HERE.
Note: If you have trouble finding a project and status on the Forest Service website go to their SOPA page. Click HERE.
URGENT CALL TO ACTION
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?
As the U.S. Forest Service said in 2011, “…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. (NOTE: This mineral withdrawal was not approved. However, this Environmental Assessment (EA) has important information that might be used in your comment. If you do use any of the information from this EA, remember to cite that information with the page number, and attached the document to your comment.)
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:
Click here for the Talking Points. Address one or more of these Talking Points in your comments. Use your own words – Don’t just copy and paste this information.
- 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.
U.S. FOREST SERVICE’S PORTAL TO SUBMIT YOUR COMMENT: https://cara.fs2c.usda.gov/Public/CommentInput?Project=67625
READING ROOM: 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
Black Hills Clean Water Alliance 