New Mexico Geological Society Annual Spring Meeting — Abstracts

In New Mexico there were as many as 28 uranium mining districts that were active from 1951-1980. In these mining districts there were many sites and areas that have been contaminated with uranium. Contamination at mine sites extends to soils, sediments and water. The cost of remediation is well into the millions of dollars and can be a burden on the nearby communities. I am exploring the possibility of using a resource for filtration that is readily available around the world: humates. Humates are a byproduct of coal that is mostly comprised of plant material that is rich in minerals; commonly used in agriculture. Humates are abundant in coal mines around the world and when not used for agricultural purposes, they tend to be cast aside. Preliminary batch capacity testing has demonstrated that the humates are capable of pulling uranium out of solution.

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