Virginia Uranium

Two uranium deposits were found in Virginia three decades ago in Coles Hill, near Chatham, a small town in Pittsylvania County. They begin at the ground’s surface, under land used to raise cattle, hay and timber, and run about 1,500 feet deep.

Virginia Uranium tests indicate that about 119 million pounds of uranium — worth as much as $10 billion — are below the surface. That would be enough to supply all the country’s nuclear power plants for about two years or all of Virginia’s demands for 75 years.

Virginia Uranium hopes to persuade the Virginia General Assembly to repeal a nearly three-decade ban on uranium mining at its regular session in January by convincing lawmakers that mining can be done safely. (Wash Post, 6/16/2011)