Denison Mine Mill, Inc.

Denison Mine Mill, Inc.

Recently, I interviewed Kyle Holiday, 23 years old, mid-sized and a hard worker at Denison Mine Mill, located a little outside of Blanding, Utah. He started working at the mill about two years ago and during the years he has been working there, he has gained a lot of experience.

 Denison Mines Corporation is a uranium company with interests in exploration and development projects. The uranium industry has a growing demand for nuclear power generation. Nuclear power has proven itself to be a safe, reliable and environmentally friendly source of electricity. The demand for nuclear power generation is growing significantly. However, uranium production is struggling to catch up after many years of low prices and limited deposits required to support the growth of nuclear power.

The required uniform at Denison Mines is large jumpsuits, rubber boots, hard hats, and safety glasses. When you're entering one of the larger tanks, you have to wear a respirator, so you won't inhale the chemicals. The jumpsuits are not all the employees’ favorite thing to wear, because “it's huge,” Kyle says. But there are days when the employees like to wear the over-size jumpsuits and rubber boots, like when it’s a cold winter day or when working a 12-hour night shift and having to stay outside all night. The jumpsuit and hard hats have to be worn at all times while working; it's a safety rule

Working at Denison Mine, there are skills required, but if you don't have a particular skill, then you get trained  by taking a three day safety class called Masha. The skills that are needed to work at the mill are knowing how to operate a fork lift, driving heavy equipment trucks, being a good listener and having legible penmanship, because if you are placed in a crew, then you need to to record the number of tanks and the pressure the are tanks at, following the safety standards, so you won't get hurt at work.

The interview was funny because Kyle doesn’t like interviews. He says, “I get nervous having to think about how to answer the questions.” I asked him what types of things he does at work. He simply answered, “we’re all divided up into crews; my crew is the D crew. We dump uranium drums, wash the mud from the uranium tanks, and we add the chemicals into the tanks and just watch them. We make sure that the chemicals in the tanks don’t over-fill and make sure the new guys in training are doing what they're supposed to be doing and do paper work about the circuits and taking samples.”

Kyle just recently got a promotion and was put in charge of his own crew, so he has to train and teach the new employees how to run the machines. He tells them what to do and to makes sure they don't make mistakes. At one point during the interview, Kyle said, “This is weird. I never had anyone interview me about my job, except when I was the one who was being interview about the job I'm working at now.” We just sat for awhile laughing

When you are working at a mill, you are being exposed to radiation because of the uranium you are around. The Ute Tribe has battled the plant for years, insisting it poses a serious health threat on the reservation three miles away. Kyle says the most difficult challenge at work is dealing with chemicals and making sure you're not messing around with the chemicals and doing it right, so it won't spill on you and keeping warm in the cold weather, because they work outside day or night, cold, warm or on hot days, making sure the uranium tanks don't freeze, always applying the hot steam near the tanks. I asked “What do you do if the Uranium tanks freeze up?” Kyle says “All we have to do is put steam toward the tanks and make sure the lines are cleared up." 

At the end of the day, Kyle likes working at the mill, though not because of the salary. He actually enjoys what he does, because he is good at it. Those 12 hours shifts are nothing to him, he may be tired, but he manages to keep moving along with work. The way he talks about working at the mill, you would know that he loves working and being an employee at Denison Mines. 

-- Janelle Holiday