Tech geologist to study deposit of uranium ore

A Virginia Tech geologist recently was awarded a $60,000 grant to study the Coles Hill uranium deposit in Pittsylvania County near Chatham.

A mineral research grant from the U.S. Geological Survey is the first from the federal government for studying this deposit and will fund "a very focused study to determine the age of the uranium mineralization," said Robert Bodnar, geochemistry professor at Tech.

Determining the age of the uranium ore in Coles Hill will help understand how it was formed and, perhaps, how to find other similar deposits in the region, Bodnar said.

That will be accomplished by taking rock samples to a U.S. Geological Survey lab in Northern Virginia, where scientists will measure radioactive decay to determine the age.

The uranium is geologically younger than the surrounding rock and, he said, "the question is how much younger. They can be 1,000 years younger, a million years younger or 200 million years younger."

Bodnar also is working on other studies of the Coles Hill deposit, which is said to be one of the largest untapped uranium reserves in the U.S. with an estimated $10 billion worth of ore laying beneath a cattle pasture. Much of his research has centered on how mineral and ore deposits form, so similar deposits also can be found, he said.

Bodnar said he has been working on the Coles Hill deposit for a little more than a year. One of the studies, he said, is focusing on how groundwater moves throughout the tiny fractures in the bedrock and ore.

Localities that could be affected have been passing resolutions regarding a state study looking at possible uranium mining in Chatham.

Recently, the Altavista Town Council unanimously passed a resolution saying it supported an "unbiased, scientific study of the potential impacts of uranium mining and milling in Virginia by an independent entity such as the National Academy of Sciences."

Sarah Watson is a staff writer for The News & Advance in Lynchburg.