Multinational companies plan mines in Oregon's high desert

An Australian owned company, Oregon Energy LLC, and Canadian owned Calico Resources USA Corporation have announced plans to mine uranium and gold (respectively) from Oregon's high desert in Malheur County. Grassy Mountain, where the gold mine is proposed, is part of the Owyhee Canyonlands. Read about the Owyhee Canyonlands Campaign. See also the Oregon Chapter of the Sierra Club's High Desert Campaign.  According to the January 8, 2012 Oregonian:

ONTARIO -- Sprawling Malheur County could soon be in the spotlight as a mining hub -- or a battleground of uranium and gold mining interests vs. environmentalists trying to protect its lonesome sagebrush landscape.

Australian-owned Oregon Energy LLC hopes to mine 18 million pounds of yellowcake uranium from the southeastern Oregon high desert 10 miles west of McDermitt near the Oregon-Nevada boundary. The go-ahead to mine the so-called Aurora uranium deposit could bring up to 250 construction jobs to the county, followed by 150 mining jobs.

Meanwhile, Calico Resources USA Corp., a subsidiary of a Vancouver, B.C., company, may seek permits this month to chemically extract microscopic gold from a high desert butte south of Vale called Grassy Mountain, a project likely to create another 100 jobs.

Read the full article at the Oregonian.

The Eugene Weekly has reported in detail about the proposed uranium mine.  Read Death Metal: Uranium mining may start in Oregon and Death Metal: Uranium mining but at what cost.    While the Oregonian article touts jobs, it does not look into communities that have been impacted by uranium. 

See also this post "Is uranium mining coming to Oregon?" which includes links to Denver Post articles on the problems the defunct Cotter Uranium Mine west of Denver which continues to contaminate ground water in the area.