One in three tested wells high in arsenic

OYATE COMMUNITY CENTER – Black Hills Clean Water Alliance (BHCWA) held the second of five community forums they are sponsoring in communities across the Black Hills and West River to inform residents about active proposals for exploratory uranium drilling and uranium mining in the Black Hills. All forums will take place on designated Saturdays from 10a.m until 2p.m. The first forum was held September 12 at the Sacred Heart Church in Pine Ridge. The second forum was held September 19 at the Oyate Community Center in Rapid City. As is the Lakota Way, vegetable beef stew, fresh fry bread, and wojapi were served followed by discussion.

A data center plan is scheduled for consideration by the county commission on November 5. BHCWA says that community members broadly oppose the proposal because of concerns about environmental impacts and encouraged residents to attend the commission meeting and make public comments opposing the plan.

BHCWA links the coast-to-coast boom in data centers to rising demand for electricity that is pushing utilities to consider a ramp-up in nuclear energy, and that in turn threatens the region with new uranium mining.

Tracy Zacher (Sicangu Lakota from Rosebud) is a public health researcher and registered nurse who serves as a key team member at Missouri Break Industries Research, Inc. MBIRI is an American Indian-owned small business focused on community health research in tribal regions.

Zacher explained to the roughly 50 people in attendance that she has a team that collects samples and then sends them to scientists for analysis. Zacher said they are looking at various heavy metals in groundwater. “There is a lot of uranium contamination in the Spirt Lake Nation in their groundwater, and then also on OST (Oglala Sioux Tribe). Not so much uranium contamination on Cheyenne River. However, lithium is very high for all three tribes, but especially Cheyenne River.” She said that is of great concern as these companies want to start mining lithium.

She noted high arsenic levels, not so much at Cheyenne River but are very high at OST, where most of the residents get their water from private wells. “We sampled 300 wells at Oglala, and one in three of them was high in arsenic and about one in ten test high for uranium.” While these chemical elements are naturally occurring, the National Institute of Health has found that drilling and mining activities can accelerate or trigger groundwater contamination.

Zacher spoke about the good work that the Strong Heart Study (SHS) and its offshoot the Strong Heart Water Study (SHWS) are doing, investigating cardiovascular disease, environmental exposures, and health risks in American Indian communities. Key findings of their research has been that chronic, low-to-moderate arsenic and uranium exposure through drinking water is strongly linked to higher rates of heart disease, hypertension, type-2 diabetes, kidney disease, and cancers.

Zacher said they have been test piloting some water filters. “If someone on a private well tests high for arsenic, there is a filter that they can have installed into their kitchen sink and filter out contaminants.” She said that their partners at Columbia University are currently working on a uranium filter.

Participants discussed dust, particulate monitoring, and mining byproducts.

Currently, there are 9,973 active mining claims or about 206,042 acres of the Black Hills are covered by mining claims, that is down from 259,014 acres in September of 2025. This represents about seventeen percent of the entire Black Hills National Forest. BHCWA says this is not a small number, but it is the first time that the number has dropped below 10,000 since 2022.

Federal record-cleanup and market forces have together led to a significant drop in mining claims in the Black Hills—about a 20% decline between September 2025 and July 2026. Some claims disappeared simply because the U.S. Bureau of Land Management removed long-abandoned claims from its records, including ones that hadn’t existed since the early 1990s. Although, many claim owners have been redacted, limiting transparency.

At the same time, interest in lithium mining has cooled sharply. The global price of lithium has fallen about 75% in four years due to oversupply and the rise of alternatives like battery recycling and sodium‑ion batteries. BHCWA says this may have contributed to several companies pulling back or exiting the region:

New Energy Metals has claims near Mount Rushmore and was acquired and dissolved by Patriot Resources; neither now has active Black Hills claims or listed SD projects.

South Dakota Operations (SDO), once tied to a large acreage of claims and now linked through acquisitions to Midwest Lithium and then Armada Metals, has seen Midwest and Armada leave the Black Hills entirely. SDO itself remains registered in South Dakota with about 120 active claims or around 2,500 acres.

Australian company Rapid Critical Metals sold its Black Hills project to IRIS Metals in 2025 and now has no active claims or state registration.

A fourth player, White Rock LLC, reduced its claims but remains active. White Rock was acquired by IRIS Metals in 2022, and IRIS later rebranded as Palisades Metals in 2026. IRIS and Palisades currently have no active claims, but IRIS and White Rock are still registered in South Dakota, with White Rock holding around 500 active claims or 10,300 acres. Some dropped White Rock claims list a Rapid City address tied to mining entrepreneur Cody Schad. Schad’s history in the Black Hills includes past state enforcement actions for illegal mining and failing to reclaim an unpermitted extraction site. It’s unknown if he has any involvement with Palisades.

Mapping of active claims shows the largest declines around Hill City–northern Mount Rushmore, north of Custer, along parts of the Wyoming–South Dakota border, and near the western edges of Custer State Park and Wind Cave National Park. Many of these appear to be lithium claims, though decreases likely include gold, uranium, and possibly rare earths.

Overall, the 20% reduction in active mining claims is portrayed as positive. It appears driven largely by lithium’s price collapse and corporate refocusing, but local opposition to new lithium mining in the Black Hills is also framed as an important deterrent: mining companies seek the “path of least resistance,” and increasing resistance in the Hills makes the area less attractive. The call to action is to maintain public pressure and work toward eliminating the remaining 9,973 active claims.

Carla Rae Marshall (Mnicoujou/Oglala Lakota) from BHCWA reminded attendees to the final three forums to participate in the Wateca Challenge. This is a sustainable community initiative promoted by BHCWA to protect water resources and eliminate single-use waste at public events. Translated to English from Lakota, Wateca means “leftover food.”

Rather than use plastic wear, attendees are encouraged to bring their own reusable eating utensils, cloth napkins, water bottles, and mugs to completely bypass single-use plastic and paper waste. Katie from the Finger Lakes region of New York was the winner of the Oyate forum Wateca Challenge taking home a beautiful figurine.

Attendees to the forum in Eagle Butte who bring their own reusable dishware can register to win a Mni Wiconi Felt Hat. Lunch will be co-hosted by BHCWA and the 100 Horses Society.

(Contact Marnie Cook at cookm8715@gmail.com)

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