INTRODUCTION

The Navajo Nation is a vast land mast of over 26,000 square miles, located within the states of New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah.  The lands vary from the low deserts to the high mountainous terrain.  Weather ranges from the cold winter months to the hot summers.  Mining has a legacy that goes back to the late 1800’s for minerals such as coal and the early 1900’s for minerals such as uranium, vanadium, copper, and sand & gravel.

 

Before Reclamation	During Reclamation	After Reclamation

Navajo AML was successful in obtaining Coal certification in 1994, basically acknowledging the complete reclamation of all known eligible coal sites.  Navajo AML continues to perform a limited amount of work on coal related problems, problems that are reported by the community members.  The terrain and environmental conditions varied widely from the low and dry lands of Cameron, Arizona to the mountainous, rough, and wetter lands of the Chuska mountain range.

 From the years 1988 to 1992, NAMLRP initiated an on-the-ground inventory assessment on Non-Coal related abandoned mine land (AML) sites.  Navajo Abandoned Mine Lands Reclamation Program (NAMLRP) has documented over 1,100 non-coal abandoned mine lands (AML) sites within the jurisdictional boundaries, Navajo Tribal Trust Lands.

Navajo AML initiated reclamation work on Priority 1 non-coal sites in 1989.  Since 1989 and following the process of coal certification, Navajo AML has successfully completed approximately 90% of the total inventoried non-coal AML sites of 1,085 AML sites.  The non-coal sites include Uranium, Copper and Sand & Gravel mines.  The mine features include both surface mines such as Open Pits, Rimstrips and Trenches, and underground mines such as portals/adits, incline and vertical shafts.    An in-house Health Physics program is utilized for monitoring radiation exposure, and for environmental controls during the reclamation of the uranium mine sites.