Homestake Mine cleanup expansion to be discussed in Grants

By Kathy Helms
Staff writer

GRANTS — When Sharon MacKendrick of Milan goes outside to walk her dog, she passes by the “No Trespassing” signs that border Homestake Mining Co., where uranium milling was conducted from 1958 through 1990.

MacKendrick, who lives on Ralph Card Road, is a member of the citizens group known as Bluewater Valley Downstream Alliance.

“We’re the ones who are concerned about our groundwater. The uranium level is just getting worse, it’s not getting better. It’s spreading,” she said. Her concern is that it will spread into the San Andreas aquifer, “which is where Grants and Milan get their drinking water.”

“We’re just a group of people that live in this area — most of them in the Murray Acres subdivision,” she said, portions of which are situated atop of an expanding plume of contaminated groundwater.

During Homestake’s years of operation, approximately 22 million tons of ore were milled at the site using an alkaline leach process. From 1993 to 1995, the mill was demolished and cleanup begun. Homestake now manages a groundwater restoration program at the site and is hoping to have it completed by 2017, at a cost of $49,820,380.

As part of the groundwater restoration effort which began in 1977, Homestake has proposed to add a third evaporation pond and expand the site boundary.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will hold a public outreach meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday to discuss regulatory issues surrounding the proposal and to listen to questions and concerns.

Managers and technical staff from the NRC, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and New Mexico Environment Department will be in attendance along with representatives from Homestake. The meeting will be held at Cibola County Center Convention Room, 515 W. High St. in Grants.

MacKendrick said that preceding the meeting, NMED’s Ron Curry will meet with a group of concerned citizens at 3 p.m. in Milan at the Parks and Recreation building. “I’m hoping he will want input from us,” she said.

“It’s an interesting group of people because they’re former miners and retired workers. Most of them have lived here a long time and really want to continue living here because they’ve established roots — except we want the groundwater to be cleaned up. We definitely want them to clean it up before they start anything new,” she said.

MacKendrick’s family fares better than some in the area who rely solely on wells. “We have well water that we use only for the lawn and the shade trees. We use Milan Village water for our garden and for our house, so that we’re not consuming it,” she said.