BLACK HILLS, SD — A proposed exploratory mining operation dubbed “October Jinx”, conducted by Canadian-based company “Clean Nuclear Energy Corporation” and overseen by the US Forest service has come under public scrutiny this week, with strong stances in opposition issued by the Black Hills Clean Water Alliance and NDN Collective, activist organizations and frequent collaborators.
The project, slated to begin in October of 2026, is the second such attempt by CNEC to mine in the area of Craven Canyon. An initial attempt by CNEC to conduct drilling near the canyon came in 2024, with the project seemingly being halted shortly after. This proposal followed a decision in 2022 in which 56% of voters in Fall River County declared uranium mining a nuisance. This current proposal opened for public comment on Monday, and will be accepting submissions until the third of March.
The project, according to the application by CNEC would consist of 17 exploratory drilling sites, each boring 500-700 feet into the earth in a process expected to take one month, after which CNEC will oversee testing of the local aquifer for 3-4 weeks following. The holes will then be filled and reclaimed in accordance with state law.
However, the loudest of objections note a danger potentially more significant. The Canyon represents a cultural and historical landmark considered sacred by Native American groups, whose over-7,000-year-old petroglyphs were declared “of great cultural, scientific, and public interest,” by the US Forest Service in a 2011 environmental assessment, which additionally states on page 10 that mining action could pose “potential for damage of the unique values associated with this area” (Via fs.usda.gov).
Taylor Gunhammer, an NDN organizer echoed the reports’ sentiments, stating that while there is significant concerns for respect of Native treaty rights which should not be understated, “Craven Canyon is truly a world-class archeological site that exists here right here in the Black Hills, and in doing this CNEC is really setting up all of humanity to be robbed of an unbelievable and wondrous part of our shared human history. It’s not just indigenous people who lose out here if this project goes forward. Everyone is being robbed of a chance to know about ourselves – to enrich the human experience”.
Gunhammer wished to also emphasize that while the project is currently exploratory in nature, strong opposition public opposition now is a necessary measure to prevent expanded mining operations in the future, saying “They’re not exploring for the presence of those minerals out of intellectual curiosity, but to find them, and try to profit from them. Frankly, it’s like if I said ‘I’m not trying to start a fire, I’ve just assembled this pile of kindling and I’m rubbing two sticks together’. It’s garbage, and it’s a lie”.
Speaking to potential environmental impacts, BH Clean Water Alliance Director Lilias Jarding said “there are concerns about water impacts from the surface on the ground, and there are also concerns about impacts in the subsurface. When you start drilling underground first of all, you don’t always know what you’re getting into, and that’s why they drill – to find out more about what’s going on underground, but the risks are things like water contamination straight out, or if they go through more than one aquifer, the drilling can connect the aquifers,” potentially leading to the pollution of major aquifers on which people in the Black Hills rely on for water, contaminating them with radioactive or other material known to be hazardous to public health.
This follows in the footsteps of a number of recently proposed mining operations throughout the Black Hills, including renewed gold mining efforts near the former site of the Homestake Mine, limestone mining headed by Simon Construction set to operate in residential areas of Piedmont, and exploratory slate mining conducted by Pete Lien & Sons last spring near the Lakota sacred site Pe’ Sla. The latter of these has been also vocally opposed by NDN and BHCWA as potential environmental and cultural risks beside opposition to CNEC efforts.
Both CNEC and the US Forest Service’s Hell Canyon Ranger District (SD) were unable to be reached for comment on the proposal at the time of writing.
