A Mayfair mining company has caused uproar with plans to extract uranium from the Grand Canyon – prompting one official to ask how Britons would react “if an American company went to drill at Stonehenge”.

The Grand Canyon is not only one of the world’s most famous natural landmarks, attracting five million visitors a year and offering a home to bald eagles, condors, bighorn sheep and exotic fish. It also happens to contain vast reserves of uranium ore – suddenly in huge demand, thanks to renewed interest in nuclear power as part of the search for “green” fuel.

But while demand for uranium has risen, supply has fallen as mines have closed in Canada and West Africa. As a result, the price has soared – and that has sparked a rush to find new deposits.

The Mayfair company VANE Minerals is at the forefront of this scramble, planning to drill at up to 39 spots on seven sites within the Kaibab National Forest, which borders both the north and south rims of the Grand Canyon, in north-central Arizona. A further thousand claims are thought to be pending from other companies – up from just ten in 2003.

National Park officials, Indian tribal leaders and even some scientists are doing everything they can to stop the exploration, going so far as to call a congressional “field hearing” in Flagstaff, Arizona. “The Grand Canyon is something we depend on for visitors, for tourism, it’s one of the wonders of the world, and here we are as the federal Government allowing the distinct possibility of uranium mining,” Raul Grijalva, a congressman for the state, said.

Environmentalists point out that uranium is both a toxic heavy metal and a source of radiation. As a result it could kill local wildlife and poison the water in the Colorado River Aqueduct, which provides drinking water to Los Angeles and much of southern California, Tribal leaders also complain that they have previously been forced to clean up after bankrupt mining concerns, while radiological assessments at one past exporation site – the Orphan Mine – have shown gamma-radiation at more than 450 times the background level after uranium was brought closer to the surface.

Yet with fears rising over global warming, many argue that the dangers of continuing to burn coal for electricity far outweigh the potential dangers of uranium mining. And while solar, tidal and wind technologies show promise, they are nowhere near as reliable.

Kris Hefton, chief operating officer of VANE Minerals, has tried to reassure environmentalists by arguing that his industry is far more safety-conscious than it was. “I’m not talking about the industry of 50 years ago that impacted the Navajo Nation,” he told the congressional hearing. “We ask you to judge our industry on its current performance rather than on past, unrelated events.” The company reportedly believes that the deposits in the Grand Canyon are of a higher grade than elsewhere in the US, because they are in geological formations known as “breccia pipes”. This means the mine could be profitable even if the uranium price falls.

VANE Minerals’ exploration permits were initially approved by the Forest Service, which cited laws created during the Wild West era to allow mining on public land. The permits were granted with minimal conditions, such as bore areas being close to existing roads, but were immediately challenged by environmentalists in the US District Court, where a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order.

In an interview over the weekend with the Los Angeles Times, Taylor McKinnon, a public lands advocate for the Centre for Biological Diversity – one of the parties that sued for the restraining order – raised questions over the safety of the exploration, such as whether floodwater could pass through the bore hole and contaminate the water supply. “We don’t know because there wasn’t an analysis,” he said.

Mr McKinnon added that VANE did not understand the importance of the Grand Canyon to Americans. “What if an American company went to drill at Stonehenge?” he asked.

A full hearing of the case is expected to be held this summer.

Power politics

— Uranium is a very dense radioactive metal, occurring naturally in rocks and seawater, with a melting point of 1132C (2070F)

— It was apparently formed in supernovae about 6.6 billion years ago. Its slow radioactive decay in the Earth’s mantle heats the planet

— After mining, the ore is crushed and treated with acid. This dissolves the uranium, which is then extracted from the solution

— It is used in building yachts and aircraft, in medicine and food preservation, but more often in the production of nuclear power

— Uranium now sells for around $65/lb, up from $9.70 in 2002

Sources: Uranium Information Centre, archives

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