Uranium mining making a comeback

MOAB, Utah, June 19 (UPI) -- Uranium mining, after nearly 40 years of dormancy, is making a comeback in five western U.S. states, thanks to a reversal in prices since 2002.

Claims are being staked by people hoping to be bought out or paid royalties. Canadian firms are buying old U.S. mines such as those that dotted the landscape around Moab, Utah. Seven new mines have opened in five states.

This boom, unlike uranium mining borne from the 1950s nuclear arms race, is seeing more safety- and environmentally conscious prospectors, The Christian Science Monitor reported Tuesday. The resurgence in uranium mining was triggered by increased global demand for the radioactive mineral.

Five years ago, the spot price for uranium was just less than $10 per pound; now it's $138.

But the process of restarting the industry is slow.

"If it's a three-volume saga, we're now beginning Volume Two," Sidney Himmel, chief executive officer of Trigon Uranium Corp. of British Columbia, told the Monitor.

Environmental and worker mishaps are rare now, Himmel said, and companies design for contingencies.