ABSTRACT
In efforts to better understand the transformation of risk perceptions and development of new conflicts among environmental regulators, industrial entities and community members, this chapter describes how uranium mining began and ended. It assesses interpretations of the environmental risk data available. The chapter explores the mitigation planning challenges that lie ahead. Two hopeful prospectors, the Spokane tribal members and brothers Jim and John LaBret, discovered a fluorescent material near Spokane Mountain on the Spokane Indian Reservation in the state of Washington in 1954. In need of a financial backer to extract and mill the ore, a partnership between Newmont Mining Corporation and Midnite Mines Inc. formed the Dawn Mining Company (DMC). Ore extraction began in 1955 following the establishment of a mineral lease agreement through the Bureau of Indian Affairs that granted DMC access to 811 acres of land centrally located on the Spokane Indian Reservation, near Spokane Mountain.
