Archive for September, 2011

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Strong objections to Toro Energy’s plan to mine uranium at Wiluna, Western Australia

September 9, 2011

Key concerns with Toro’s plan to mine uranium at Wiluna, 
by Mia Pepper and Jim Green, 9 sept 11,

* Traditional Owners are opposed to the construction of a uranium mine at
the significant sacred site of Lake Way. Toro has not completed
Archeological and Ethnographic studies and does not already have a
comprehensive Aboriginal Heritage Management Plan.

* Uranium exported from Wiluna will at best end up as high-level nuclear
waste. At worst it will end up as fissile (explosive) material in nuclear
weapons, or in a nuclear disaster such as that unfolding in Fukushima,
Japan.

* Toro does not accept responsibility for its own application, stating
that it has “not fully verified the accuracy or completeness” of its
application.

* Lake Way is home to a unique population of Stygofauna − a
newly-discovered species of subterranean crustaceans.

* Toro has not factored in recent advice from the International Commission
on Radiological Protection that radon is twice as carcinogenic as
previously thought.

* Transport plans are presented as a “preliminary draft” and the company
plans to transport its toxic, radioactive product over many thousands of
kilometres, from Wiluna to Adelaide and Darwin.

* Uranium mining and tailings disposal in this region will occur below the
water-table and will be connected to aquatic ecosystems. There is a
significant risk of contaminating the aquatic ecosystems with changes in
water chemistry, including the mobilisation of radioactive compounds.

* The legal requirement for tailings management at the Ranger uranium mine
in the NT is effective isolation for at least 10,000 years. The minimum
standard should be the same for Wiluna.

* There has not been a calcrete uranium deposit mined in Australia and
there is only one calcrete deposit presently being mined worldwide. There
is a lack of expertise and experience in engineering and mine design for
these deposits.

* Wiluna has a number of operating mines close to town and in the region.
Despite current mining activity, Wiluna still suffers from extreme
poverty, homelessness, unemployment, violence and other social problems.

www.ccwa.org.au/campaigns/nuclear-free-wa

Posted in opposition to u-mining, Toro Energy | Leave a Comment »

Investors desert Australian uranium companies

September 9, 2011

Investor support has evaporated and the share prices of most ASX-listed uranium plays have fallen more heavily than the wider market. The share price falls have eroded any chance of capital raisings to fund drilling programs or project development while continued production problems experienced by market leader Paladin Energy have added to the negative sentiment hanging over the sector.

The Merrill Lynch uranium equity index, which tracks global listed stocks, is down 19 per cent over the past month and 23 per cent in the past year. 

More pain for uranium sector as price dips, PETER KLINGER, The West AustralianSeptember 7, 2011 Already battered by headwinds, including strong opposition from environmentalists, WA’s fledgling uranium sector is set for more grief amid expectation the nuclear fuel’s low price will fall another 6 per cent within the next few months. (more…)

Posted in economics | Leave a Comment »

Uranium prices and shares ever downward

September 9, 2011

Uranium prices plunge causing issues for Australian producers, Herald Sun, Greg Roberts ,September 07, 2011 URANIUM prices have fallen back to levels last seen after Japan’s nuclear accident in March, causing further grief to struggling Australian producers.

The uranium spot price is $US48.85 ($A46.04) a pound, having plummeted from $US67.75 to $US49 immediately after the earthquake and tsunami on March 11.

The spot price had recovered to about $US56.50 after the Fukushima accident. Analyst group Resource Capital Research says the dynamics driving the sector have changed in the aftermath of the meltdown, with Germany planning to close all 17 of its nuclear power reactors by 2022.

The “fund implied price” – an indicator of market price expectations – is signalling a further fall in the spot price to $US45.95. The Merrill Lynch Uranium Equity Index, which measures the performance of uranium equities, has fallen 19 per cent over the past month.

It is down 27 per cent over the past three months and 23 per cent over the past year, according to the latest quarterly report by Resource Capital Research. Shares in Australia’s largest uranium producer, the Rio Tinto-backed Energy Resources of Australia, have fallen 13 per cent in the past month and 73 per cent in the past year.

A year ago, ERA shares were $13.49, compared with $3.65 now, with the company posting a $122 million half-year net loss.  http://www.heraldsun.com.au/business/uranium-prices-plunge-causing-issues-for-australian-producers/story-fn7j19iv-1226130940686

Posted in economics, ERA, Rio Tinto | Leave a Comment »

Australia’s uranium mining industry propaganda – not very confident

September 9, 2011

“…an extended period of uncertainty…..A mistake by one operator or explorer or project developer in our industry affects all of us.”

Fukushima puts Australia’s uranium industry on the defensive Independent Australia, 2 Sept 11, The Australian nuclear industry feels the heat after the Fukushima calamity, but spins on gamely. Noel Wauchope reports.

With plummeting uranium prices, and increasinglybad news about Fukushima radiation, Australia’s uranium industry is well and truly on the back foot. But the industry battles on with religious fervour in its belief in the future uranium boom. (more…)

Posted in ERA, media | Leave a Comment »

Investors reluctant to risk it with uranium

September 9, 2011

Uranium market sees thin activity and lower price, Industrial Fuels and Power, August 17th, 2011 The uranium spot price delivered no surprises this week as it slipped further by US$1.00 to US$50.50/lb. Three days earlier, TradeTech had noted a US$1.25 WoW fall to US$50.25/lb, attributing the drop to thin demand and supply “with a few sellers competing for even fewer sales opportunities.”

Buyers – this week utilities, traders and financial entities – are largely uninterested and reluctant to commit purchases. …http://www.ifandp.com/article/0013083.html

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

Paladin uranium miner’s losses

September 9, 2011

Paladin Energy Q4 loss widens to US$47.7M, The Canadian Press08/31/2011 PERTH, Australia - Paladin Energy Ltd (TSX:PDN), an Australia-based miner that lists on the TSX, cited higher financing costs Wednesday among reasons for a widening of its fourth-quarter and full-year loss.

Paladin Energy, which reports in U.S. dollars, said its after-tax loss for the three months ended June 30 was US$47.7 million or 6.3 cents per share, compared with a loss of US$25.2 million or 3.5 cents in the same year-earlier period….profits were affected an impairment of inventory expense of US$26.4 million at the company’s Kayelekera mine due to higher operating costs during ramp-up and the lower prevailing uranium spot price since last March’s earthquake-induce nuclear disaster in Japan.

The company also faced an earlier, US$6.3-million early buyback of convertible bonds. On the Toronto Stock Exchange, Paladin Energy shares were down nine cents at $2.16 at midday Wednesday.

Posted in economics, Paladin | Leave a Comment »

Uranium miner Paladin crying out for investors

September 9, 2011

More uranium investment needed, says Paladin CEO, Mining Weekly, 31st August 2011  PERTH − Uranium miner Paladin Energy CEO John Borshoff said that more investment was needed the uranium sector, as supply and demand dynamics would become more strained.

“Discoveries of new deposits have to be made, exploration and high-risk capital needs to be sunk into these programmes, because these programmes determine the long-term future of the mining industry,” Borshoff told delegates at the Africa Downunder conference in Perth on Wednesday…..

“Uranium is still suffering from the impact of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, and the parallel damage to the Fukushima nuclear reactors. The supply sector and the nuclear industry have suffered a bruising effect from this event…

Posted in economics, Paladin | Leave a Comment »

BHP Billiton, uranium mining, and South Australia’s unjust Roxby Downs Indenture Act

September 9, 2011

he Indenture Act trumps all other SA legislation…..Over to you, Mr Rann − repealing the indefensible legal privileges in the current Indenture Act would be a good way to end your tenure as SA Premier.

Above the law: Olympic Dam’s legal privileges, Jim Green and Gavin Mudd, 27 Aug 11 Premier Mike Rann has done us a favour by insisting on concluding negotiations with BHP Billiton over the SA Roxby Downs Indenture Act before leaving office. It is by no means clear that the outcome will be
improved with Mr Rann’s involvement, but he has at least drawn attention to this remarkable legislation.

The Indenture Act governs the operations of the Olympic Dam copper/uranium mine. The legislation was controversial when it was enacted in 1982 and it is all the more inappropriate as the basis for the planned expansion of
the mine.

The Act provides BHP Billiton with the legal authority to override important state legislation including the Aboriginal Heritage Act 1988,
the Environmental Protection Act 1993, the Freedom of Information Act
1991, the Natural Resources Act 2004 (including water management issues),
the Development Act 1993 and the Mining Act 1971. (more…)

Posted in BHP Billiton, politics, Roxby Downs | Leave a Comment »

DCall for Australain and S.A. govts to stop BHP Billiton’s free grab of water for uranium mining

September 9, 2011

t is within the power of the Federal and South Australian governments to require, as a condition of consent to the BHP Billiton proposal, that at the time the desalination plant is commissioned, the company will surrender any and whatever licence it has to extract water from the Great Artesian Basin ….

It is our submission that, as the largest single extractor of water from the GAB in South Australia, BHP Billiton has created its own ethical obligation to the future of the GAB …

It is our further submission that this is not an economic issue, it is not even an environmental issue, it is about the ethics of any company continuing to assert its current right to a public resource when that company has the financial capacity to secure the same resource from its own private reserves. ….

Re:- BHP Billiton – Olympic Dam Expansion Proposal, 22 August, 2011  Letter to Senate Standing Committees on Rural Affairs and Transport  from Richard Quilty BHP Billiton Shareholder Willem Vervoort,Associate Professor, Hydrology & Catchment Management The University of Sydney (more…)

Posted in BHP Billiton, Olympic Dam, water | Leave a Comment »

BHP Billiton above the law in South Australia

September 9, 2011

exemptions from the Environmental Protection Act (1993) are of particular concern. The exclusion of this Act means that the Olympic Dam mine is not subject to the same environmental regulatory framework as other industrial projects in South Australia, and the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA), which administers the Act, is excluded from its monitoring role. BHP’s environmental performance is instead the responsibility of the Minister for Mineral Resources Development, who, based on BHP’s own reports, has full discretion to approve or reject programmes for the management and rehabilitation of the environment, without any obligation to consult with other agencies. Given the Ministers role in promoting mining in SA, this arguably amounts to a conflict of interest.

Re: ROXBY DOWNS INDENTURE ACT

Dear

The Roxby Downs Indenture Act is currently the subject of negotiations between the SA Government and BHB Billiton, owner of the Olympic Dam copper/uranium mine. We expect that in the near future amendments will beintroduced into parliament extending the operation of the Act to the proposed Olympic Dam expansion.

Friends of the Earth is concerned that indefensible legal privileges in the Indenture Act will be retained in the context of the proposed mine expansion, including exemptions and overrides from the SA Aboriginal Heritage Act1988, the Environmental Protection Act 1993, the Freedom of Information Act 1991, and the Natural Resources Act 2004.

There has as yet been no indication from the SA Government or BHP Billiton that it accepts that these legal exemptions are indefensible and must be repealed. Nor has there been an acknowledgement from the SA Government that the Indenture Act undermines the binding Labor Party commitment to apply the “strictest environmental standards” to uranium mining.

In this regard, exemptions from the Environmental Protection Act (1993) are of particular concern. The exclusion of this Act means that the Olympic Dam mine is not subject to the same environmental regulatory framework as other industrial projects in South Australia, and the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA), which administers the Act, is excluded from its monitoring role. BHP’s environmental performance is instead the responsibility of the Minister for Mineral Resources Development, who, based on BHP’s own reports, has full discretion to approve or reject programmes for the management and rehabilitation of the environment, without any obligation to consult with other agencies. Given the Ministers role in promoting mining in SA, this arguably amounts to a conflict of interest.

Uranium mines pose the greatest environmental risk of all industrial projects, in that where environmental harm occurs, the effects may last tens of thousands of years. This consideration, accompanied by the scale of theproposed expansion, which has the potential for much greater environmental risk than the existing operation, makes legal accountability even more important. Noting the Legislative Council’s concern regarding the waste management practices of the proposed expansion, recorded in the motion passed on the 29th July 2011

 

“[calling] on the State Government to ensure that all waste management practices for the proposed Olympic Dam Expansion, including the management of surplus ore and tailings, meet or exceed world’s best practice,” I refer you to chapter 12 of the Draft and Supplementary Environmental Impact Statements for the expansion. Sections 12.4.2 and 12.6.2 of the Draft EIS in particular acknowledge that seepage from the Tailings Storage Facility will affect groundwater quality. Notably, the groundwater is predicted to contain elevated levels of Uranium (p. 366 Draft EIS, p. 283 Supplementary EIS), further highlighting the importance of independent environmental monitoring and a rigorous environmental regulatory framework. Rather than burying the tailings in the pit after the mines closure, BHP propose to allow them to continue seeping into the aquifer, acknowledging that the impactmay last up to 10,000 years.

Friends of the Earth asks you to use your voice as an SA Parliamentarian to ensure that the legal exemptions and overrides contained in the Roxby Downs Indenture Act are repealed, and that they are not extended to apply to the proposed expansion, allowing BHP Billiton to be subject to the same laws as other corporations operating in SA.

A summary of the problems with the Indenture Act is overleaf along with references to more detailed literature.

I would be pleased to discuss these issues with you or to provide further information.

Yours sincerely,

 

Nectaria Calan

Anti-nuclear campaigner

Friends of the Earth Adelaide

0432 388 665

blackwallaby@gmail.com

Posted in BHP Billiton, legal, Roxby Downs | Leave a Comment »

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