PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT (Details) (USD $)	12 Months Ended																				12 Months Ended																1 Months Ended										12 Months Ended						12 Months Ended			12 Months Ended				12 Months Ended		12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010	Dec. 31, 2012 Uranium plant	Dec. 31, 2011 Uranium plant	Dec. 31, 2012 Permits and licenses	Dec. 31, 2011 Permits and licenses	Dec. 31, 2012 Mineral rights	Dec. 31, 2011 Mineral rights	Dec. 31, 2012 VBPP	Dec. 31, 2012 Evaluation and delineation	Dec. 31, 2011 Evaluation and delineation	Dec. 31, 2012 Vehicles/depreciable equipment	Dec. 31, 2011 Vehicles/depreciable equipment	Dec. 31, 2012 Wellfield development	Dec. 31, 2011 Wellfield development	Dec. 31, 2012 Other uranium properties	Dec. 31, 2011 Other uranium properties	Dec. 31, 2012 Other property, plant and equipment	Dec. 31, 2011 Other property, plant and equipment	Dec. 31, 2012 Kingsville Dome Property acre	Dec. 31, 2011 Kingsville Dome Property	Dec. 31, 2010 Kingsville Dome Property	Dec. 31, 2012 Kingsville Dome Property Minimum	Dec. 31, 2012 Kingsville Dome Property Maximum	Dec. 31, 2012 Rosita Property acre	Dec. 31, 2011 Rosita Property	Dec. 31, 2010 Rosita Property	Dec. 31, 2012 Rosita Property Minimum	Dec. 31, 2012 Rosita Property Maximum	Dec. 31, 2012 Vasquez Property acre	Dec. 31, 2011 Vasquez Property	Dec. 31, 2010 Vasquez Property	Dec. 31, 2012 Vasquez Property Minimum	Dec. 31, 2012 Vasquez Property Maximum	Dec. 31, 2012 Rosita South acre	Dec. 31, 2010 Los Finados Project item acre	May 31, 2011 Los Finados Project CTI item	May 31, 2011 Los Finados Project CTI Maximum	Dec. 31, 2012 Los Finados Project Tecolote Project acre	Dec. 31, 2010 Los Finados Project Year 1 item	Dec. 31, 2012 Los Finados Project Year 1 Tecolote Project item	Dec. 31, 2010 Los Finados Project Year 2 item	Dec. 31, 2012 Los Finados Project Year 2 Tecolote Project item	Dec. 31, 2010 Los Finados Project Year 3 item	Dec. 31, 2012 Los Finados Project Year 3 Tecolote Project item	Dec. 31, 2012 Churchrock item acre	Dec. 31, 2012 Churchrock Section 17 and Mancos	Dec. 31, 2012 Churchrock Section 17 and Mancos Minimum	Dec. 31, 2012 Churchrock Section 17 and Mancos Maximum	Dec. 31, 2012 Churchrock Section 8 Maximum	Dec. 31, 2012 Crownpoint Property acre	Dec. 31, 2012 Crownpoint Property Churchrock deposits mi	Dec. 31, 2012 Crownpoint Property Gallup, New Mexico mi	Mar. 31, 1997 West Largo and Roca Honda property acre	Dec. 31, 2012 West Largo property Milan mi	Dec. 31, 2012 West Largo property State Highway 509 in McKinley County, New Mexico mi	Dec. 31, 2012 West Largo property Ambrosia Lake District mi	Dec. 31, 2012 Roca Honda property item acre	Dec. 31, 2012 Roca Honda property San Mateo in McKinley County, New Mexico mi	Dec. 31, 2012 Juan Tefoya acre	Dec. 31, 2012 Juan Tefoya Albuquerque mi	Dec. 31, 2012 Juan Tefoya Laguna mi
PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT
Property, Plant and Equipment Balances (net)	$ 43,714,081	$ 18,846,027		$ 10,913,000	$ 9,139,000	$ 3,902,000	$ 2,714,000	$ 3,873,000	$ 2,711,000	$ 20,274,000	$ 2,460,000	$ 2,460,000	$ 1,435,000	$ 1,405,000	$ 153,000	$ 131,000	$ 246,000	$ 193,000	$ 458,000	$ 93,000
Impairment provision	1,737,359	1,460,170	961,278																		919,000	851,000	590,000			139,000	126,000	58,000			679,000	483,000	313,000
Gross area on which entity has mineral leases																					2,434					3,377					872					1,795	53,524										3,458					640
Net area on which entity has mineral leases																					2,227					3,377					872					1,479				22,700							3,458					556
Royalties on lease based upon a percentage of uranium sales																								6.25%	9.375%				6.25%	18.25%				6.25%	10.25%														5.00%	6.25%	39.25%
Annual per acre royalty payable to extend leases not held by production																								10	30				10	30
Net carrying value of the property																																																													565,000
Specified price per pound for uranium sales on which royalty is payable at specified percentage																										80.00								40.00	25.00
Fee paid at signing as per lease option agreement																																					1,000,000
Number of phases in exploration program																																					3	3
Extension of exploration lease term																																						2 years		2 years
Exploration obligation, number of exploration wells																																									100	100	200	150	200	200
Exploration obligation, amount of investment																																									$ 1,000,000	$ 1,000,000	$ 1,500,000	$ 1,500,000	$ 2,000,000	$ 2,000,000
Interest earned in project in consideration of investment (as a percent)																																							70.00%
Number of parcels																																															3
Number of parcels which lie within the area generally recognized as constituting the Navajo Reservation																																															0
Overriding royalty obligation (as a percent)																																																2.00%
Distance of property from a specified location																																																					22	35		21	1.5	3		4		45	25
Area of land in which fee interest acquired by entity																																																							177,000						4,097
Number of unpatented mining claims owned by entity																																																											36
Area of land encompassing unpatented mining claims of entity																																																											640