Grand Canyon mine work put on hold

(UPI) -- A company working to sink a uranium mine near the Grand Canyon has halted operations over legal challenges and a poor market for the metal.

Energy Fuels, Inc., came to an agreement with the Havasupai Tribe and conservation groups to pause the sinking of the mine, six miles south of Grand Canyon National Park, through December 2014 or until the U.S. District Court for Arizona comes to a decision on lawsuits meant to halt the mine's development for good.

The decision to place the mine on "operational standby" meant "proceedings on the merits of the case will now be able to advance in a more efficient manner," the company said in a statement Tuesday.

To date, the mine is approximately 300 feet deep, and, if completed, would reach down 1,500 feet, and ground level development has been completed, the company said.

Energy Fuels CEO Stephen P. Antony struck an optimistic tone, calling the agreement beneficial, not only because of the ongoing litigation, but because the uranium market has dropped prices to a 5-year low.

The Havasupai Tribe and conservation groups, including the Grand Canyon Trust and the Sierra Club, sued the U.S. Forest Service in 2012 over the decision to allow the Energy Fuels to go forward with plans for the mine without adequate tribal consultation and without updating the area's federal environmental review, last updated in 1986.

The mine sits within the Red Butte Traditional Cultural Property, designated in 2010 as religiously and culturally important the the Havasupai and other tribes. Conservationists also say the mine threatens the area's wildlife and water, including aquifers feeding springs in the Grand Canyon.

“The Canyon Mine threatens irreversible damage to the Havasupai people and Grand Canyon’s water, wildlife, and tourism economy, so this closure is very good news,” said Roger Clark with the Grand Canyon Trust, in a statement Wednesday. “The closure is temporary. Under current policy, federal agencies will permit this mine -- like other “zombie mines” across the region -- to reopen next year, or 10 or 20 years from now without any new environmental analysis or reclamation. That needs to change.”

A "zombie mine" is a mining operation that has been shutdown long before but is able to be reopened without updated operational plans, and according to the Grand Canyon Trust, are not subject to a 2012 ban put in place to bar new uranium mining claims for 20 years.

The Canyon Mine first began operating in 1986, and shuttered in 1992 when the uranium market fell. It was reopened without reapproval in 2012.

“It is time to halt this mine -- permanently,” said Sandy Bahr, director of the Sierra Club’s Grand Canyon Chapter. “It was a bad idea 27 years ago when the now-dated environmental impact statement was issued, it is a bad idea today, and it will certainly be a bad idea tomorrow. Now we know even more about how much Canyon Mine threatens the water, wildlife and cultural resources of Grand Canyon.”