Catron County residents mobilize against ‘massive’ uranium mine proposal in Cibola National Forest

Catron County residents and a New Mexico environmentalist group said they are mobilizing opposition after a uranium company recently sought state and federal approval to begin exploratory uranium mining in a swath of Cibola National Forest. 

NovaCore Exploration Inc. submitted a permit request July 2 to the state Mining and Minerals Division, seeking permission to drill up to 37 boreholes about 15 miles northwest of Datil for what it calls the “Ane Uranium Exploration Project.”

Garrett VeneKlasen, Northern Conservation Director at New Mexico Wild, told Source NM on Tuesday that NovaCore’s proposal stands out, even amid the spate of recent uranium proposals across the state, for its “massive” size and scale.

If state and federal officials approve the permit application, and NovaCore later confirms the existence of uranium deposits through exploratory drilling, the company has up to 850 active mining claims covering an area of roughly 15,000 acres, which is approximately the size of the city of Carlsbad, according to a Bureau of Land Management database. 

“This is the ugliest one I’ve seen in a long time, just because of the sheer size of its footprint,” VeneKlasen said of the proposal. 

Other proposed uranium mine efforts in New Mexico, including the Roca Honda and La Jara Mesa projects elsewhere in Cibola National Forest, would be less than 2,000 acres. In the Carson National Forest, another proposed mine site near Canjilon would be roughly 900 acres. 

Douglas Christopherson, the NovaCore chief operations officer who submitted the application to the state, told Source NM on Tuesday that the company is awaiting determinations from both the Cibola National Forest and state officials on their permit applications.

“We want to be good neighbors,” he said. “That’s really all I can say on that matter until we know if the uranium there is economic or not.”

VeneKlasen said NovaCore’s exploratory permit applications mark the first official steps in renewed efforts toward extracting uranium in the area after several years of speculation. 

Two years ago, a company called Myriad Uranium announced it had staked a number of claims for what it dubbed the “Red Basin Uranium Project” in the same area. The company said it had evidence that at least 500,000 pounds of uranium exists in the claimed boundaries, with up to 5.5 million more potentially present. 

“These things are never real until the mining company actually does something” like file a permit request, VeneKlasen said. 

NovaCore’s 106-page exploratory permit application, which the state made public on its website this week, seeks state permissions to construct drill pads and build at least one mile of new roads to facilitate uranium exploration. The application says the company has plans in place to prevent chemical spills, transport its own water and minimize environmental harms, and it notes that the company does not anticipate using all 37 drill sites. 

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Christopherson said the company’s exploration interest stems in part from a 1981 research paper from a geologist at what was then the New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources. The paper concluded that at least 15 million pounds, and as much as 45 million pounds, of powdered uranium concentrate, known as “yellowcake,” exist in the Datil Mountains and Pie Town areas. 

Christopherson stressed that the company is still far from determining the extent of uranium deposits in the area. He also addressed environmental concerns, saying that the company will abide by all regulations imposed by state and federal agencies and will follow “both the letter of the law and the spirit of the law.” 

Sidney Hill, a spokesperson for the Mining and Minerals Division, told Source NM in an email Tuesday that the division is currently reviewing the application for completeness and will upload “milestone” documents, like additional questions for the company and determinations following its review, to its website. 

Kathy Knapp, a community advocate who lives in nearby Pie Town, said she is seeking action from the Catron County Commission and otherwise mobilizing her neighbors in opposition to the proposal. She told Source NM on Tuesday she is worried a uranium mine will contaminate the San Agustin Aquifer and otherwise ruin a secluded area that many of her neighbors have moved to for its dark skies. 

“They’ve moved here from all over because it’s one of the darkest parts of the contiguous US,” she said. “And we want to protect the air, the water, the pristine environment. Once the uranium drilling starts, we’re not going to be able to stop it.”

The renewed interest from NovaCore is just the latest example of outside interest in New Mexico’s uranium deposits since President Donald Trump took office in January 2025. Soon afterward, he declared a nationwide “energy emergency” as part of a push to expand domestic energy production. 

Since then, federal officials have identified several of the New Mexico projects for fast-tracked federal approvals, and the price of uranium has steadily increased toward the point of making construction of new mines profitable. 

While Cibola National Forest officials have listed both the Roca Honda and La Jara Mesa proposals as “priority projects,” state officials have stressed that they have their own robust permitting process that is necessary before any of the projects can break ground.