The Texas uranium belt extends along an approximate 300-mile belt that extends from east-central Texas to South Texas. Uranium previously was produced in this belt using open pit mining and milling technology. However, mining operations now employ in-situ recovery (ISR) technology that uses oxygenated water to capture and remove naturally occurring uranium from the ore body.
This new technology greatly reduces the surface disturbance typically associated with a mineral extraction process. According to the Energy Information Administration, three of the five ISR plants currently producing uranium in the United States are operating in Texas. The combined production capacity of these plants is 2.8 million pounds of U3O8. Once all of the currently operating and planned facilities are online, the total annual production in Texas will be more than 5.8 million pounds. Once all of the proposed plants join the currently operating facilities, the total annual production of domestic uranium by the ISR method will exceed 15.5 million pounds. Uranium mining using ISR technology is safe. There has never been a documented instance of drinking water contamination resulting from ISR mining in Texas. This environmental and safety record is attributed to the exacting standards that the State of Texas imposes on the mining of uranium. It is also a tribute to the industry’s commitment to safety and environmental protection.
Sixteen exploration permits have been issued by the Railroad Commission of Texas this year, and four more are under consideration for issuance. At least five new applications are pending at the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. 80 million pounds of uranium worth more than $4 billion at current prices have been produced in Texas and, more exploration and production is expected in the years to come.
Typically, the budget for full-scale activities at a South Texas ISR uranium mine site projects annual expenditures of $7-10 million for salaries, fringe benefits and training for approximately 100 employees.
The resurgence of the uranium mining industry in Texas reflects TMRA’s commitments to mineral production, environmental protection, economic strength and public welfare. It is a busy and exciting time for uranium miners in Texas.
Uranium Mining Companies
- Mesteña Uranium, LLC
- Rio Grande Resources, Corporation
- Signal Equities, LLC
- South Texas Mining Venture
- Uranium Energy Corp
- Uranium Resources, Inc.
Guest Column from a teacher who attend the
TMRA Uranium Education Workshop in 2009.
A Lesson Learned
Shauna Duby
Eighth-grade science teacher, Bedicheck Middle School in Austin, Texas
In my 38 years as a teacher, I’ve learned that it’s best to educate myself on a topic rather than take what others say as truth. As energy and the environment have become issues on everybody’s mind, I have set out to educate myself about how we as Americans can help solve the energy crisis. Part of this process is educating our students about the resources available to us.
What I’ve found is that in order to solve this enormous problem, there likely isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach. It will most definitely take a smart combination of traditional resources, such as oil, natural gas, nuclear power and coal, as well as alternative resources, such as wind and solar.
As teachers, we are often presented with opportunities to participate in summer workshops to educate ourselves on topics we might be able to bring back to teach our students in the fall. Now that the school year is well underway, I am preparing to teach my students about what I learned in Corpus Christi when I spent six days with 17 other teachers at a uranium mining teacher workshop.
Why uranium? It’s what fuels our nuclear plants, and currently almost all of the uranium used in the United States is imported, forcing our nation to once again rely on foreign energy supplies.
Heading into the first day of the workshop, we all had plenty of questions about uranium and uranium mining. Is there really uranium in the ground in Texas? Can people really trust uranium mining companies and regulatory agencies to keep our communities safe and protect the environment? How can I turn all of this information into relevant lessons for my students?
Over the next several days, the workshop answered many of our questions. The uranium mining workshop sessions focused on how a nuclear power plant works, radiation safety, history of uranium mining, the different types of mining and groundwater restoration.
Right away, I was surprised to learn that Texas has a 300-mile-long “uranium belt” that extends across Central and South Texas that has been mined for years. I also learned that the type of uranium most commonly found in nature is uranium-238, which is useful for nuclear plants, but is slow-decaying and only slightly radioactive – no more so than many objects we encounter every day. We also visited the South Texas Nuclear Project where we learned that uranium pellets are manufactured in all different sizes and shapes.
In addition to the preconceptions that come with the word “uranium,” the word “mining” can also hold negative connotations. We learned that uranium mining companies in Texas, however, are required to restore mining sites and return them to their original conditions, and if they don’t, they lose expensive bonds they paid to guarantee the reclamation. Nearby groundwater is also strictly monitored by special wells that can detect slight changes in water quality before minerals such as uranium have even touched it.
The best part about this particular teacher workshop was the ability to talk directly with experts and ask whatever follow-up questions we wanted. Having an expert on hand to learn from, at the exact site of the lesson, is much more beneficial to teachers than researching lesson ideas through television programming or the Internet.
In the state of Texas, teachers have specific science standards called TEKS, or Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills. TEKS lays out the state’s official curriculum and spells out what students need to learn and test for each year. The topics that were addressed during the workshop were presented in ways that can be easily incorporated into classrooms to satisfy our TEKS standards.
One lesson I am preparing for my students was a part of the workshop where participants were assigned roles to play in a mock public hearing for a uranium mining project. Roles included mining project manager, scientist, concerned citizen, state agency permitting representative and county/city leader. It was interesting to watch the relationships between each group and how they do their best to work together.
Nuclear power and its fuel, uranium, are a big piece of the energy puzzle and it’s important for people to know uranium is available locally and has the ability to not only help solve the energy crisis but also create jobs and build the South Texas economy.
Every day, our students are bombarded with different messages about the environment. There are hybrid cars, recycling programs and global warming debates. This workshop and others like it are not about teachers bringing an opinion back to influence our students in one direction or another but rather about presenting our students with the facts and letting them ask their own questions and decide what to believe in for themselves.
I decided to spend a part of my summer vacation learning about something that’s important to our country but misunderstood by a lot of people. Opportunities such as a uranium mining teacher workshop don’t come around often but I am grateful when they do.
