Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Roca Honda Mine

Marquez Canyon Exploration
Current
Chapter 2. Alternatives, Including the Proposed Action
In 2009, Neutron Energy applied for permission to drill up to 44 holes 2,500 feet in depth in
Marquez Canyon of McKinley County. The permit was renewed in 2012. Drilling activities
would disturb approximately 10 acres of land surface and drill pads would have to be reclaimed
upon completion. BMPs are to implemented at all surface disturbances and temporary low water
crossings during exploration and reclamation activities, as needed for erosion control, spill
prevention, and avoidance of damage to ephemeral stream channels in the area (MMD, 2009a).
Mesa Montanosa Exploration
Current
Under the conditions of a permit renewed in 2012, permittee Grants Ridge, Inc., is authorized to
conduct mineral exploration (drilling boreholes) and reclamation operations on approximately 5
acres situated on BLM land in McKinley County (MMD, 2012b).
Elizabeth Claims Exploration
Current
The Elizabeth Claims Exploration project area is located on private lands within the Ambrosia
Lake Mining District approximately 20 miles northwest of Grants. It consists of 28 drill holes, 5.5
inches wide and up to 1,800 feet deep. About 5 acres of surface area would be disturbed and
reclaimed upon completion of the exploration (MMD, 2009b). MMD renewed this permit in
August 2011.
Uranium Mills
Ambrosia Lake Disposal Site (former uranium mill)
Past
The Ambrosia Lake disposal site was a uranium mill (ore-processing facility) located near the
center of the Grants Mineral Belt, within the Ambrosia Lake Mining District of McKinley County
approximately 25 miles north of Grants. The Ambrosia Lake Valley is a thinly populated area
characterized by desert grassland and bordered by basalt-capped mesas to the north (DOE, 2011).
Built by Phillips Petroleum Company in 1957, the Ambrosia Lake mill processed more than 3
million tons of uranium ore between 1958 and 1963, providing uranium for U.S. national defense
programs. In the late 1970s to early 1980s, United Nuclear Corporation operated an ion exchange
system, extracting uranium from mine water. All operations came to an end in 1982, leaving
behind radioactive mill tailings, a predominantly sandy material, on approximately 111 acres.
Wind and water erosion dispersed some of these tailings across a 230-acre area (DOE, 2011).
After Congress passed the Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act (UMTRCA) in 1978, the
U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) remediated the Ambrosia Lake site between 1987 and 1995,
under the Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action Project and in accordance with standards
promulgated by the U.S. EPA in Title 40 (CFR) Part 192 (DOE, 2001; DOE, 2011). DOE closed
the 91-acre disposal cell in 1995 upon consolidation and encapsulation of the tailings and
completion of the cell cover. The cell contains almost 7 million dry tons of contaminated
DEIS for Roca Honda Mine, Cibola National Forest 87