Prospectors File 16 Claims on Opened Bears Ears Land — SkimNews
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- Miners filed 16 claims on September 11, the first day 1.2 million acres of Bears Ears were opened after Trump's proclamation shrank the monument by about 90 percent; all claims trace to small-scale local operators with uranium interests.
- Kimmerle Mining, a Moab-based family business, filed 13 of the 16 claims including two modifications to the 21-acre Easy Peasy mine and 11 nearby claims; managing member Kyle Kimmerle was appointed to Urano Energy's board in 2024.
- George Schultz, an off-roading guide from Moab, filed three claims in the Lockhart Basin and noted uranium exploration experience on his LinkedIn profile.
- Trump's proclamation explicitly listed silver, copper, molybdenum, lead, uranium, vanadium, and zinc as minerals the land 'may or may not' contain — a 'grab bag,' per attorney Steve Bloch, that signaled mining as a priority use.
- Energy Fuels CEO and chairman bought thousands of company shares days before Trump downsized the monument; the company operates the White Mesa Mill, the last conventional uranium processing site in the U.S., directly adjacent to the former boundary.
- Kyle Kimmerle was a party to a 2023 lawsuit challenging Biden's restoration of Bears Ears' boundaries, asserting monument status cost him up to $3 million in lost profits from the Easy Peasy mine.
- Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance attorney Steve Bloch said no production-level mines were established even during Trump's first-term shrinkage, and he doubts enough uranium exists on the opened lands to justify the environmental cost.
Why it matters: The article shows a tight alignment of private and public interest: a claimant who sued to reopen Bears Ears (Kimmerle, claiming $3M in lost profits) filed 13 claims the day the monument shrank, while the CEO of the adjacent uranium mill bought shares days before Trump's proclamation. Environmentalists note no commercial mine ever opened during the first Trump-era shrinkage, suggesting the uranium thesis driving the new claims remains speculative.
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