The Site consists of a 2.2-acre reclamation cell located between two mesas (Mesa I-1/2 and Mesa II) in the Chuska Mountains. The reclamation cell was constructed in 2001 by Navajo Nation Abandoned Mine Lands program (NNAML) to aggregate and bury waste rock resulting from uranium mining during the 1940’s to 1960’s.
The Site also contains 6 mine adits or portals, all of which were sealed off by NNAML at the time of the reclamation effort. The rock and soil waste was capped with 1.5 feet of clean fill (Class A material), which has been steadily eroding to the point that an approximately 15-foot deep by 8-foot wide by 150-foot long erosion channel is now running through the northern end of the reclamation cell. A flow channel had been built into the eastern edge of the reclamation cell and had been
meant to collect runoff and direct it to the side of the reclamation cell and straight into Cove Wash. However, water has eroded a channel outside of the designed erosion channel. The Cove Wash lies directly below the damaged reclamation cell and receives water and sediments directly from the eroding cell.
