Ucore Rare Metals (TSXV: UCU) issued a statement saying that the permitting of its Bokan-Dotson Ridge rare earth elements project in Alaska may see a clean slate soon following the approval of environmental renewal activities on the former Ross Adams uranium mine site.
The approval was granted by the United States Forest Service after reaching an agreement with Newmont USA Limited and Dawn Mining Company. The miners will be in charge of financing the $7-million on-site environmental reclamation project.
The Ross Adams site and the Bokan project are located on Prince of Wales Island in southeast Alaska
“This is a highly encouraging advancement, both for the Bokan project and Ucore as the current developer of Bokan Mountain,” Mike Schrider, Ucore’s VP and COO, said in the brief. “This USFS initiative ensures a clean slate for renewed development at Bokan, and a reset of the environmental baseline measurements will undoubtedly facilitate go-forward permitting for Ucore. We couldn’t ask for a better conclusion to the activities of prior operators, as Ucore continues to execute several initiatives leading towards the development of its Bokan project and assumes stewardship of this historically significant American asset.”
The Ross Adams site and the Bokan project are located on Prince of Wales Island in southeast Alaska. From 1957 through 1971, Ross Adams produced in excess of 85 thousand tons of uranium laden material yielding over 1.3 million pounds of U3O8 for the US.
The mine’s reclamation project will include the consolidation of mine rock and any remaining previously mined uranium laden material from the site and secondary transit areas, and placing those materials in an on-site repository at the open pit location.
The repository for the hazardous materials will be covered with clean soil and engineered to protect human health and the environment. Additionally, non-hazardous remnants of the former mining operation will be removed.