Uranium mill may be built in rural Colorado

The first new uranium mill in the U.S. in 25 years may be built in Colorado. Stephanie Simon reports for The Wall Street Journal that Energy Fuels Resources Corp. of Canada is looking for investors after Colorado regulators approved a radioactive-materials license for the proposed mill.

The firm is seeking about $140 million to build the Piñon Ridge Mill to be located in Paradox Valley, a remote rural area of southwest Colorado that has struggled economically. "The mill is expected to employ 75 people — and to spur the creation of scores of additional mining, trucking and support jobs in the Paradox Valley. That promise of jobs has many local residents cheering," writes Simon.

Environmentalists are not as happy. After a uranium mining boom went bust, toxic uranium ore was found at a shuttered mine in the area of Paradox Valley; another closed mill in the area has been designated a federal Superfund site. Cleanup of the property was launched in the 1980s but is far from complete. (Read more) The Associated Press reported on an effort in 2008 to open uranium mines in Paradox Valley.