PUBLIC LANDS WATCH

Pinyon Plain Uranium Mine (Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni National Monument, Grand Canyon region)

Kaibab National Forest, ~6-10 miles from Grand Canyon National Park's South Rim, Coconino County, AZ · Active uranium mine grandfathered inside a National Monument (Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni, designated 2023) · managed by U.S. Forest Service (Kaibab National Forest); Arizona Department of Environmental Quality; EPA Region 9

Status: Active — in production, water/permit disputes ongoing Threat: Uranium mining — active groundwater contamination risk
Coordinates
35.9722, -112.1
Page last verified
2026-08-12
Site maintainer of record
Alicen M.
File
/grand-canyon-pinyon-plain

01 — Historical & Cultural Record

The mine (originally Canyon Mine, renamed Pinyon Plain Mine) was first approved in the 1980s under a Plan of Operations from 1986 and closed in 1992 when uranium prices fell to $6.40/lb. In 2012, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar established a temporary 20-year administrative mining ban across roughly 1 million acres of public land near the Grand Canyon. The Forest Service determined Canyon Mine held "valid existing rights" under the 1872 Mining Law, exempting it from that ban. In August 2023, President Biden designated the Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni — Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument at the request of tribes, withdrawing the area from future mineral entry; Pinyon Plain was again grandfathered in as a pre-existing right and is the only active mine operating inside the monument's boundary. Red Butte, a Havasupai sacred site near the mine, was separately designated a traditional cultural property under the National Historic Preservation Act.

02 — Current Threat

Operator Energy Fuels Resources (USA) Inc. began active ore extraction in December 2023 (first ore removed to the surface January 8, 2024) after decades of litigation, citing rising uranium prices (roughly $57/lb as of recent reporting, up from the 1992 shutdown price of $6.40/lb). Miners pierced an aquifer during shaft construction in 2016, and the mine has pumped groundwater out of the shaft continuously since. Ore is trucked roughly 300 miles across Navajo Nation land to the White Mesa Mill near Bears Ears National Monument for processing (see /sites/bears-ears/). In July 2026, the Havasupai Tribe formally objected to a proposed amendment to the mine's aquifer protection permit that would raise the allowable arsenic limit at a monitoring well, arguing Arizona regulators are attempting to weaken pollution limits without proper public process.

03 — Documented Impact: Environmental

Geology & Hydrology: The mine sits above the deep Redwall-Muav Aquifer, which feeds seeps and springs throughout the Grand Canyon and is the Havasupai people's sole source of drinking water via Havasu Creek and Havasu Spring near Supai Village. A shallower C-aquifer and the deeper R-aquifer are separated by more than 2,000 feet of rock, but numerous studies — including a 2024 published groundwater study — strongly suggest likely connectivity between them via fractures and faults.

Water & Contamination: Over the past decade the mine has pumped more than 80 million gallons of groundwater out of the mine shaft (6.7 million gallons in 2025 alone, per the company's own 2025 annual report), stored in an uncovered pond inside the site's fence. A 2024 published groundwater study found potential for contamination from the mine to reach springs on the Grand Canyon's South Rim and Havasu Spring near Supai Village, though it called for further monitoring-well data to confirm exact flow paths. A 2026 EPA technical study, requested by the Havasupai Tribe, similarly found "potential" for the mine to contaminate local and regional groundwater resources vital to the Havasupai Reservation's water supply, while stating further investigation is needed to confirm the extent of aquifer connectivity.

Habitat & Cultural Site: The mine sits near Red Butte, the Havasupai Tribe's sacred mountain, a designated National Historic Preservation Act traditional cultural property.

Long-Term Effects: Groundwater contamination from mining, if it occurs, would affect a aquifer system already documented as slow to characterize (2,000+ feet of separating rock, ongoing scientific uncertainty about connectivity) — meaning any contamination could take years to be detected and would be extremely difficult to remediate once it reaches a deep aquifer supplying a community's sole water source.

03 — Documented Impact: Cultural & Archaeological

See Red Butte traditional cultural property designation above. The mine sits within a monument designated specifically at tribal request to protect this landscape, yet operates under a legal exemption tribes have unsuccessfully litigated against for years.

03 — Documented Impact: Economic & Fiscal

Energy Fuels reported producing about 1.6 million pounds of finished U3O8 (yellowcake) at the White Mesa Mill in the first half of 2026, sourced partly from Pinyon Plain ore; because mining is currently in "lower grade areas" producing less ore than the mill can process, mill operations were scheduled to pause for Q3 2026 before resuming. A dedicated cost-benefit or taxpayer-impact analysis specific to this mine (e.g., value of foregone groundwater, monitoring costs borne by EPA/state regulators) was not identified in current sourcing.

03 — Documented Impact: Legal Status

The Havasupai Tribe's lawsuit challenging the mine's exemption from the 2012 mining ban was dismissed and the dismissal affirmed on appeal. The Tribe, Grand Canyon Trust, Center for Biological Diversity, and Sierra Club have separately and repeatedly legally challenged the Forest Service's decisions allowing the mine to operate. As of July 2026, the Havasupai Tribe was formally objecting to a proposed state permit amendment loosening the arsenic limit at a mine monitoring well.

03 — Documented Impact: Human Health

The Havasupai Tribe's core stated concern is direct: contamination reaching their sole source of drinking water. No separate occupational or community air-quality health study specific to this mine was identified in current sourcing, distinct from the water-contamination risk already detailed above.

03 — Tribal / Public Consultation Status

The Forest Service was documented as "not a part of" discussions between Energy Fuels and the Navajo Nation over ore-transport routes across Navajo land in 2024 — meaning the relevant federal land-managing agency was absent from the tribal negotiation that determined how ore moves across a second tribal nation's territory. The Havasupai Tribe's July 2026 objection to the arsenic permit amendment specifically states Arizona regulators are "not required to accept formal comments" on the change, meaning no mandated public/tribal consultation applies to that particular permit action even as the Tribe formally requests one.

04 — Named Companies & Responsible Parties

05 — Recorded Opposition & Support

06 — Timeline of Developments

07 — Sources

Primary

Secondary

Corrections Log

None on record as of 2026-08-12 (page initial publication).

Take Action

ADEQ's arsenic-limit permit amendment does not require formal public comment; the Havasupai Tribe and allies are urging public pressure regardless.

Sign / comment on the public record for Pinyon Plain Uranium Mine (Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni National Monument, Grand Canyon region) →