Energy Fuels' Pinon Ridge Uranium Mill Permit Upheld

Energy Fuels Inc would have heaved a sigh of relief as Montrose County District Judge James Schum ruled that the special use permit given to the company was in order.

An environmental group known as Sheep Mountain Alliance had challenged the Montrose County Board of County Commissioner’s approval of the special use permit for the Pinon Ridge Mill.

Energy Fuels intends to build the uranium mill near Naturita in south west Colorado. The Pinon Ridge Mill will be the first new conventional uranium mill in more than 25 years in the country. The company said that the construction of the mill would be done by 2012 and the mill could begin processing uranium by the first half of 2012.

They hope that 500 tons of uranium and vanadium ore will be processed daily for the nuclear fuels industry at the Pinon Ridge Mill. The company has applied for the special use permit in July 2008. It had been originally approved in September 2009 but due to the ongoing litigation construction was stalled.

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment finally cleared its Radioactive Material License on January 5, 2011. This is the final permit that it needed to operate the uranium mill in the state of Colorado.