Breccia Pipes

Cutaway illustration of a breccia pipe uranium mine shaft cutting through Grand Canyon rock layers into a perched aquifer, with pumps and a haul truck at the surface

Uranium mining around the Grand Canyon: mines, monument, and 2026

How uranium in Grand Canyon breccia pipes led to a 2012 mining withdrawal, a 2023 tribal-backed national monument, and Pinyon Plain Mine, still pumping and mining ore in 2026.