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The Pinyon Plain uranium mine near the South Rim of the Grand Canyon achieved its highest monthly output since beginning operations, owner Energy Fuels Resources Inc. announced in a recent press release to investors.

The release also touted higher-than-expected ore quality. President and CEO Mark Chalmers said in the announcement the results confirmed the company’s belief that Pinyon Plain “will likely be the largest and lowest-cost U.S. uranium mine supplying the domestic nuclear energy industry over the next several years.�

Though the mine’s April production was its highest yet, there haven’t been very many months of uninterrupted mining operations, Curtis Moore, senior vice president for marketing and development at Energy Fuels, acknowledged. From August 2024 to January 2025, Energy Fuels was negotiating with the Navajo Nation, which had objected to the company’s transport of ore across the reservation to a mill in southern Utah.

“Once we had the agreement finalized in February, that’s when we went back to resuming mining at more of a larger scale," Moore said.

In April 2025, Energy Fuels extracted 4,604 tons of ore at Pinyon Plain, containing about 1.64% -- 75.7 tons -- of uranium oxides. In technical reports published in and , the company had estimated an ore grade of 0.88% to 0.95% for the mine’s main deposit.

Breccia-pipe mines like Pinyon Plain “have a history of over-performing the initial drilling,� according to Moore. Because the columnar breccia pipe deposits are narrow -- sometimes only 100 feet in diameter -- and their level of mineralization varies with depth, they can be difficult to accurately assess with exploratory vertical drill shafts from the surface.

The May investor update also noted “exceptional results� from initial assays of the “Juniper Zone,� a separate pocket within the breccia pipe below the mine’s main proven deposit. A handful of intercepts in the Juniper Zone registered localized ore grades as high as 7.5%, though average grade across all the samples was about 1.09%, which is closer to the company’s original estimate of 0.95%.

Both the production rate and the ore quality are “exceeding expectations,� Moore said.

But the figures are unlikely to alter the expected lifespan of the mine.

“I don’t think we’re going to keep up that rate throughout the year,� he noted. Energy Fuels expects to produce between 350 and 500 tons of finished or milled uranium ore this year and to stockpile additional unprocessed ore at its White Mesa Mill.

So far, Moore said, the restrictions on ore transportation across the Navajo Nation -- including limitations on the days and hours when hauling is allowed -- have not created logistical challenges. If necessary, he added, the mine would slow production to comply with the agreement.

As part of that same settlement, Energy Fuels agreed to remove 10,000 tons of uranium-bearing waste materials from abandoned mines on the Navajo Nation.

There are hundreds of such mines, and in January, Navajo Nation Environmental Protection Agency director Stephen Etsitty said the location of the cleanup was yet to be determined.

“It’s still in the planning stages,� Moore said this week. “We stand ready to assist in any way we can.�

Etsitty could not be reached for comment about the status of the planned cleanup.

Continuing concerns

Since its inception, Pinyon Plain Mine has drawn vociferous objections from Native tribes and environmental advocates who have argued that the mine itself threatens groundwater and that transportation of uranium ore endangers vulnerable communities along the haul route.

Leona Morgan, a Diné activist who cofounded the anti-nuclear organization Haul No!, believes the uranium ore grades at Pinyon Plain don’t justify the ecological risk or cultural impact of mining on land considered sacred by some tribes.

“They say it’s high-grade ore, but it’s very low when you compare it to mines in Saskatchewan or Kazakhstan, for example,� Morgan said.

Some mines in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, like the Cigar Lake Mine, have uranium ore grades up to 15% -- nearly 10 times higher than Pinyon Plain. (Kazakhstan is the world’s foremost producer of uranium, supplying about 40% of the global total, but actually extracts most of its ore from lower-grade, higher-volume deposits, using a technique known as in-situ leaching.)

She said the Energy Fuels press release reminded her of the uranium market bubble of the early 2000s, when the price of uranium skyrocketed and then crashed back down.

“There was this hype, there was this propaganda and false narrative that there was going to be this nuclear renaissance,� Morgan recalled. “And that uranium bubble burst. There was no nuclear renaissance.�

Since January, President Donald Trump’s administration has promoted an agenda of increased domestic uranium production through executive orders and cabinet-level direction. Morgan said she sees that as a new twist on the same old hype.

“The administration now is pushing incredibly forcefully to develop uranium mining by shrinking monuments, [and] fast-tracking mines,� Morgan said, referencing Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum’s secretive review of national monument lands, including the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni - Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument in northern Arizona.

However, the market for U.S.-sourced uranium evolves over the coming years, Morgan is most concerned with the potential long-term consequences of this latest push to hurry mines into action.

She emphasized the existing abandoned mines and tailings that litter the Navajo Nation, many dating back to the Cold War, and said, “Again, we will be stuck with whatever happens in this period.�

“Nuclear fights are lifelong,� Morgan added. “We can only manage so much, but we have to sustain ourselves, because radiation waste is forever. It’s not a fight that happens in a four-year administration.�

Driver's illness scrutinized

One recent incident in Flagstaff became a minor flashpoint for concerns about uranium mining and ore transportation. The driver of a uranium ore truck pulled over near the intersection of Highway 89 and Townsend-Winona Road on the morning of May 8 and was observed vomiting in the parking lot. Video and photos of the incident drew attention on social media.

The Coconino County Sheriff’s Office stated later in the day that the driver was experiencing “minor flu-like symptoms� unrelated to the truck’s cargo and that measured radiation levels at the scene did not exceed normal safe limits. The driver refused ambulance transport and ultimately continued along his route, the statement noted -- although the Navajo Nation Environmental Protection Agency later confirmed in a separate public statement that it had turned back the truck “as a precautionary measure.�

Moore said concerns about the driver’s potential radiation exposure were “wildly inaccurate conjecture.� “The levels we’re talking about are so low,� he added.

Unrefined uranium ore is considered only “weakly radioactive� by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, emitting primarily alpha particles -- the least powerful product of radioactive decay, which can be blocked by a sheet of paper or human skin. Energy Fuels has repeatedly stated that its ore trucks do not create any environmental contamination along the haul route or expose communities to radioactivity.

Moore did not have additional information about the incident but stressed that there are far more mundane -- and probable -- causes for the driver’s condition, such as the flu or food poisoning.

“The guy wasn’t feeling well. Our truck drivers are allowed to pull over and go to the bathroom,� he said.

Although external exposure to uranium ore is considered low-risk, ingestion or inhalation of radioactive materials can significant health risks, particularly if prolonged.

Morgan expressed concern for the safety of the truck drivers and mine workers and also said she would like to see greater transparency from the Navajo Nation government around the radiation measurements taken from haul trucks.