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
Scope
Place file — a specific parcel of public land
Coordinates
35.9722, -112.1
Page last verified
2026-08-17
Site maintainer of record
Alicen M.
Last edit
2026-08-17 by Alicen M.
File
/grand-canyon-pinyon-plain

01 — Historical & Cultural Record

The mine (originally Canyon Mine, renamed Pinyon Plain Mine in November 2020)8 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.312 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.35 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.43 Red Butte, a Havasupai sacred site near the mine, was separately designated a traditional cultural property under the National Historic Preservation Act.5

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).127 Miners pierced an aquifer during shaft construction in 2016, and the mine has pumped groundwater out of the shaft continuously since.6 Ore is trucked across Navajo Nation land to the White Mesa Mill near Blanding, Utah — the only operating conventional uranium mill in the United States — for processing (see /sites/bears-ears/).711 The haul distance is given as roughly 300 miles by Arizona Daily Sun and roughly 320 miles by Environment America; both figures are stated here rather than reconciled.710

Truck volumes are reported inconsistently. Energy Fuels' own figure, as compiled by Environment America, is "as many as 10 trucks per day," each carrying 24 tons of ore.10 Arizona Mirror reports between two and 12 trucks a day on weekdays.9 The Navajo Nation reported two trucks daily in February 2026, with plans to increase.9 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.26

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.16

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.6 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.1

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.7 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.54 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.2

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.7 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.26

In March 2026 the Havasupai Tribe stated publicly that it had been cut out of the haul-route negotiations between Energy Fuels and the Navajo Nation altogether — a second tribal nation with a documented interest in the route being excluded from the agreement that governs it.9 Tribal representatives have stated: "We will not give up... We will fight on."9

Formal instruments — a Navajo Nation Council resolution or a Havasupai Tribal Council resolution, with resolution numbers — were not located as of August 17, 2026; the record here rests on public statements and reporting.

04 — Named Companies & Responsible Parties

05 — Recorded Opposition & Support

06 — Timeline of Developments

07 — Sources

Primary

Secondary

Corrections Log

2026-08-17 — unresolved date conflict, flagged rather than changed. This page dates the resumption of ore hauling to February 12, 2025, following the July 30, 2024 voluntary pause and the January 29, 2025 haul-route agreement with the Navajo Nation. A research pass completed August 17, 2026 dated the same resumption to February 12, 2026, also describing it as following a nearly six-month pause. The 2025 date is retained because it is consistent with the July 2024 pause and the January 2025 agreement already documented here; the conflict is recorded rather than resolved, pending a primary source. If a second, later pause and resumption occurred, this page does not yet document it.

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) →