By Jim Mimiaga, The Cortez Journal

BLUFF, UTAH — What was left out of the new Bears Ears National Monument in southeast Utah is upsetting paleontologists, but relieving uranium miners.

Museums of Western Colorado paleontologist Rob Gay said he is encouraged that the fossils-rich Bears Ears is now protected. But he was disheartened when he found out Red Canyon was dropped from the final boundaries.

During a Friends of Cedar Mesa conference last month in Bluff, Utah, Gay said fossils in that area are mostly unstudied.

“Red Canyon is the most important paleontology area in southeast Utah,” he said. “The most significant site is not protected.”

The canyon rich with fossil evidence from the Triassic Period — 200 million to 250 million years ago — when dinosaurs began their transition to terrestrial dominance.

“I’m the only presenter advocating to expand the monument,” Gay said.

Uranium mine avoided

The Red Canyon area was left out of the original monument proposal to accommodate untapped uranium resources and current mines, including the Daneros Mine, owned by Energy Fuels.

That is a relief for mine companies because national monuments prohibit new mining operations.

Prior to the designation, “we spoke to a few elected officials and government employees about or concerns,” with the monument boundaries, Energy Fuels vice-president of marketing Curtis Moore said.

The Daneros mine is southwest of Fry Canyon, and is 3 miles from the monument. It is closed, but owners are seeking approval from the Bureau of Land Management to expand the mine from 4.5 acres to 46 acres and increase mining capacity.

The proposal calls for increasing ore production from 100,000 tons over seven years to 500,000 tons over 20 years.

The ore would be delivered in covered trucks from the mine site along Utah 95, past Natural Bridges National Monument, and across the new Bears Ears Monument to Energy Fuels’ White Mesa Mill, south of Blanding, Utah. The mill produces yellowcake a concentrated form of uranium used to make fuel rods for nuclear power plants.

“Our uranium is used to generate clean, carbon-free nuclear energy,” Moore said. “Most of our current production is sold to U.S. utilities.”

To read more of this story got to the-journal.com

CORRECTION: This online story was updated at 11:57 a.m. April 9, 2017, to correct the period of the fossil trove that was left out of the Bears Ears boundary. Rich evidence of the Triassic Period can be found in Red Canyon.