Uranium deposits sitting underneath a Virginia farm have sparked debate over whether they should be mined.

With interest in mining the uranium deposits in Pittsylvania County increasing recently, environmentalists and local residents have begun arguing that such efforts could pose significant risks to workers and the surrounding community, The (Norfolk) Virginian-Pilot said Sunday.

"Uranium might be stable in the ground in rock form," Southern Environmental Law Center senior attorney Rick Parrish said, "but when you pulverize it, you open up the whole thing to all kinds of potential problems and questions."

Yet key to any proposed mining actions at the Coles Hill site would be the permission of the property's owner and a ban on uranium extraction currently in place statewide. The ban was instituted 25 years ago when a company expressed interest in mining the Coles Hill uranium ore, which is estimated to be worth nearly $10 billion.

The newspaper said in order for any mining of the site, which is said to hold 110 million pounds of uranium ore, the ban would have to be dropped by state lawmakers.

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