Drone Strike Disrupts Security Techniques At Grand Canyon Mine

A Drone Collision with mine shaft security gear pressured a safety Evaluation on the Pinyon Plain uranium mine close to the Grand Canyon, Vitality Fuels officers reported. The incident occurred as the power was resuming uranium ore shipments following a current transportation settlement with the Navajo Nation, experiences KNAU.

The drone struck vital security wires used for personnel transport on the 1,400-foot-deep mine shaft, in response to the Coconino County Sheriff’s Workplace. The collision broken infrastructure important for transferring staff and gear out and in of the underground facility, which operates on a 15-acre plot throughout the Kaibab Nationwide Forest lower than 10 miles from the Grand Canyon’s South Rim.

“This was extraordinarily harmful habits, and we is not going to tolerate the reckless actions of people that jeopardize the lives and wellbeing of our staff or the general public,” stated Curtis Moore, Vitality Fuels’ senior vice chairman of selling and company improvement, in a press release following the incident.

The suspect, recognized as Bobby Mason of Lukachukai, allegedly operated the drone at dangerously low altitudes over the mine web site earlier than crashing into the security system. After the collision, Mason fled in a silver Ford F-150, resulting in a collection of incidents together with two hit-and-runs – one on Freeway 64 approaching Grand Canyon Nationwide Park and one other inside park boundaries. Nationwide Park Service rangers later positioned the wrecked automobile close to the Desert View Entrance.

The Coconino County Sheriff’s Workplace has charged Mason with a number of offenses, together with illegal operation of unmanned plane, aggravated DUI, prison injury, hit-and-run, reckless driving, and harassment. Mason, who social media posts point out has shared content material opposing the mine’s operations, is being held with out bail.

The incident occurred on the identical day Vitality Fuels resumed trucking uranium ore from the positioning to its processing mill in southern Utah. This resumption adopted negotiations with Navajo Nation officers, who had beforehand challenged the transport of radioactive supplies throughout tribal lands.

The Pinyon Plain Mine, beforehand generally known as the Canyon Mine, continues operations underneath permits issued within the Eighties, regardless of its location throughout the just lately designated Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni—Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon Nationwide Monument. Vitality Fuels maintains that the power meets all security and environmental necessities, citing supportive research from the U.S. Forest Service and Arizona Division of Environmental High quality.

The Drone Incident has highlighted questions on infrastructure safety at uranium mining operations, notably these close to delicate areas like Nationwide Parks and tribal lands. Vitality Fuels has not launched particulars about potential operational delays attributable to the injury to the mine’s personnel transport system.

Photographs courtesy of USDA Forest Service.