Archive for the ‘MINES’ Category

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Leave uranium in the ground, says Indian visitor to Roxby Downs

April 28, 2013

“Please leave the uranium underground” , Roxby Downs Sun  April 4, 2013,  Indian national Bhargavi Dilipkumar has a message for BHP Billiton; to leave uranium underground for it has done more than enough damage to the environment.

Bhargavi visited Roxby Downs this week with Friends of the Earth Australia to receive a first hand experience of what uranium mining was all about and be the voice of India protesting the uranium trade between the two countries.

She said she had been part of the people’s movement that is strongly opposing the building of an atomic power plant to be built at the southern part of India.

Bhargavi is an anti nuclear activitist from India who strongly believes that BHP Billiton should shelve its uranium export program and be responsible for the safety of the environment and million of lives back home.

She visited the Olympic Dam mine and tried to persuade BHP Billiton management to have a heart for the people of India who will suffer long term consequences if the atomic power plant was allowed to go ahead.

“Please leave the uranium underground,” she said.

“Don’t mine it because its destroying lives.”

Similar sentiments were expressed by German nationals Danda Petter and Miriam Ribbeck who had been part of a nation-wide protest to stop the construction of a nuclear plant at Freiburg.

They said the consequences of having a nuclear plant would definitely affect both Germany and France.

Vietnamese national Hai Levan said having seen the damage caused in Japan he would “fight to the death” to stop the building of a nuclear energy plant in South Central Vietnam.

“We can’t continue chopping down trees because it will cause flooding and harm our environment,” he said .http://www.roxbydownssun.com.au/story/1408776/please-leave-the-uranium-underground/?cs=1503

Posted in BHP Billiton, opposition to u-mining, Roxby Downs | Leave a Comment »

Radioactive water still leaking from Mary Kathleen uranium mine – 30 years after closure

April 28, 2013

Queensland’s last uranium mine still leaking radioactive water 30 years after production stopped   John McCarthy  The Courier-Mail  March 21, 2013  THE state’s last uranium mine at Mary Kathleen – in the Selwyn Range between Mount Isa and Cloncurry – is still leaking radioactive water from the site 30 years after production stopped. But, according to a committee report handed to the State Government this week, the return of uranium mining to Queensland is “risky but manageable”.

“The uranium mining industry has a number of inherent environmental risks,” the report said….. The report says the Mary Kathleen mine’s pit is still full of highly contaminated water to a depth of about 50m, and since the mine closed in 1982, several other studies have found “ongoing environmental legacy issues”.

Those include the seepage of acidic, metal-rich, radioactive waters from the base of the tailings dam into the former evaporation ponds and local drainage system.

 Surface waters downstream of the mine’s tailings dam have concentrations of contaminants that exceed the Australian water quality guideline values for livestock drinking water.

Australian Conservation Foundation spokesman Dave Sweeney said there was no evidence that uranium mining was safe because not one former mine had been rehabilitated properly.

“In the Northern Territory there is a range of old mines, maybe a dozen or more, that are still being cleaned up 50 years after the event,” Mr Sweeney said…… http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/queenslands-last-uranium-mine-still-leaking-radioactive-water-30-years-after-production-stopped/story-e6freoof-1226601866129

Posted in employment, Mary Kathleen, water | Leave a Comment »

Closer scrutiny for Kakadu uranium mine welcomed by Aboriginal landowners

April 28, 2013

Gundjeihmi Aboriginal Corporation (GAC) has today welcomed Environment Minister Tony Burke’s announcement that Energy Resources of Australia’s proposal to build an underground uranium mine, the so-called Ranger 3 Deeps, will be subject to a full Federal Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).

GAC – the organisation established and run by the Mirarr Traditional Owners of the Ranger uranium mine site, where the underground operations are planned, as well as much of Kakadu National Park – called for this level of assessment. The proposal affects a number of Matters of National Environmental Significance as it is a Nuclear Action occurring within a World Heritage listed Wetland of National Significance.

Kakadu experiences high rainfall and insufficient research has been done to be to predict the effect that underground operations will have on the surrounding wetlands.

“The Mirarr welcome the Minister’s decision. The Ranger 3 Deeps proposal is an entirely new method of mining within the bounds of Kakadu National Park and must therefore be subject to a high level of scrutiny. Energy Resources of Australia (ERA) has no experience with underground mining and the potential for water management or other environmental issues within the World Heritage area demand close examination,” said Justin O’Brien, Executive Officer of Gundjeihmi Aboriginal Corporation.

ERA currently has approval to mine on the Ranger Project Area until 2021 and has not publicly confirmed if it intends to seek a new mining approval beyond that date.

 For further information or comment contact Justin O’Brien: 0427 008 765

Posted in ERA, indigenous, Ranger | Leave a Comment »

Rio Tinto cuts back as uranium market remains gloomy

April 28, 2013

Namibia’s Roessing uranium mine to slash jobs Global Post, 1 Mar 13, The Roessing uranium mine in Namibia, a unit of British mining giant Rio Tinto, said Friday it plans to cut 17 percent of its workforce due to slowing demand for nuclear fuel…. As with many other uranium producers, Roessing is buckling under low metal prices and reduced demand, the company’s managing director Chris Salisbury told reporters.

“Since the Japanese tsunami in 2011, uranium demand has remained depressed and the uranium price has fallen by more than 36 percent,” he said.

Japan shut down its nuclear power plants after the tsunami destroyed the Fukushima nuclear plant, and a number of other countries including Germany have also signalled they plan to reduce or phase out their facilities.

“With the utility sector in Japan essentially shutdown, there is little prospect of a turnaround in the near term,” he added.

At the same time electricity and water costs have gone up…. Roessing Uranium Limited is owned 68.6 percent by British mining giant Rio Tinto and is one of two operating uranium mines in Namibia. .http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/afp/130301/namibia-s-roessing-uranium-mine-slash-jobs

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

Australia’s uranium industry future – not looking too good

February 11, 2013

recent steps by BHP to cuts of its uranium program — from the delay of the uranium production expansion plan at the Olympic Dam project to the selling of a large Yeelirrie deposit located in Western Australia.

Recent Ranger and Olympic Dam issues along with various problems related to notable Australian uranium projects like Angela/Pamela, Kintyre, Oban, Wiluna and Koongarra, amongst others, have also caused concerns about the future development dynamics of the local uranium industry.

Australia’s uranium industry hits turbulence Mining.com, Vladimir Basov | February 8, 2013 Recent news from Australia raises serious concerns about the future development of its domestic uranium industry. While established players are exiting the market, others are lining up to explore new areas and have made some positive moves.

Open-pit mining operations at Ranger mine were terminated at the end of November 2012. To this date, Ranger mine was one of the largest uranium production centres worldwide with a total cumulative output of more than 100,000 tonnes of uranium oxide.

On Dec. 7, 2012, the operator of Ranger mine, Energy Resources of Australia Ltd. (ERA), announced that work on backfilling the pit had already started, with the first phase to be completed by the end of 2014. (more…)

Posted in Angela Pamela, BHP Billiton, Cameco, economics, ERA, Olympic Dam, Ranger, Yeelirrie | Leave a Comment »

ERA’s Ranger 3 Deeps Uranium Project under scrutiny

February 11, 2013
A case in 
point is the estimated one billion litres of tailings water that ERA and CSIRO believe now sits in a 
growing plume underneath the Tailings Storage Facility. The water is highly contaminated process 
water. A full EIS is required to examine the legal requirement for ERA to remove the plume and 
treat the area to a state consistent with the World Heritage values immediately adjacent to the 
mine to allow the project area to be incorporated back into Kakadu. 

Submission to Ranger 3 Deeps Project underground uranium mine referral  
Energy Resources of Australia Ltd/Mining/at existing Ranger uranium mine in Alligator 
Rivers Region/NT/Ranger 3 Deeps Underground Mine  
Reference Number: 2013/6722
31 January 2013  
Prepared by  
Stuart Blanch, Director, Environment Centre NT, Darwin, coordinator@ecnt.org / 0448 887 303. 
The Environment Centre NT welcomes the opportunity to provide comment on the referral.
We make the following comments:
1. The Ranger 3 Deeps Project is proposed by Energy Resources of Australia (ERA) to be built inside
the World Heritage listed Kakadu National Park and surrounding internationally recognised
Ramsar wetlands of the Alligators Rivers Region. By its very nature is is a highly risky project over
the long term, given the need to manage radioactive contamination for thousands of years. The
Ranger Uranium Mine has already created very substantial long term waste management issues
over the past three decades of operation, and remains a highly controversial project in the eyes
of many Territorians and Australians.

The proposed mine is a nuclear action under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity
Conservation Act (Cth) (EPBCA). However it also poses a risk to various other Matters of National
Environmental Significance including 14 threatened species, 20 migratory species and a National
Heritage Place. (more…)

Posted in environment, ERA, Ranger | Leave a Comment »

Underground uranium mine still being planned by ERA, at Ranger site

February 11, 2013

ERA beings approvals process for Ranger 3 Deeps uranium mine  http://www.   miningaustralia.com.au/news/era-beings-approvals-process-for-ranger-3-deeps-ur  16 January, 2013 Cole Latimer

Energy Resources of Australia has formally begun its statutory approvals process for the proposed Ranger 3 Deeps underground uranium mine.

It today lodged a referral with the Commonwealth Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities (SEWPaC) as well as with the Northern Territory government.

It comes after the miner was accused of expanding said operations without environmental assessments.

ERA is investing around $120 million to construct an exploration decline to define its existing resource.

Construction of the decline began in May last year, with closed space drilling scheduled to commence in quarter three of this year.

The miner has also allocated an additional $57 million for a prefeasibility study into the development of an underground mine.

Posted in ERA, Ranger | Leave a Comment »

ERA closes down its Ranger open cut uranium mine

December 28, 2012

Open cut operations cease at Ranger uranium mine, Australian Mining 11 December, 2012 Cole Latimer Energy Resources of Australia’s Ranger uranium mine has finally stopped open cut mining, after three decades of operation.

It comes as the mine further explores its underground Ranger 3 Deeps project after receiving approvals for a prefeasibility study earlier this year.

ERA is now backfilling its Three Deeps pit after it extracted the last of the ore from Pit 3 in the last week of November, several weeks ahead of schedule, the company says….

Posted in economics, ERA, Ranger | Leave a Comment »

BHP chucks in the towel on uranium mining, will focus on copper at Olympic Dam mine

December 28, 2012

BHP is now looking at less capital-intensive options for the mine, focusing on copper.

BHP shuts uranium arm; nuclear-fuel prospects dim
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/bhp-shuts-uranium-arm-nuclear-fuel-prospects-dim-2012-12-06  By Robb M. Stewart MELBOURNE, 6 Dec 12, –BHP Billiton Ltd. BHP +0.19%  has shut its uranium division, responsible for its Olympic Dam copper-and-uranium mine, in a reflection of dimmed prospects for the nuclear fuel.

The South Australia mine has been folded into its base metals division, the company said in a statement Thursday. (more…)

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

South Australian Greens defeated in effort to prevent extension of BHP’s Olympic Dam agreement

December 28, 2012

29 Nov 12,  A motion in State Parliament moved by Mark Parnell MLC, Greens Parliamentary Leader, to block the four year extension to the controversial Olympic Dam Expansion Indenture has been defeated.

Ex-Treasurer Kevin Foley had also called publicly for the extension to be refused and former Premier, Mike Rann, said as recently as August:

         ‘We don’t believe there is a basis for an extension of the indenture arrangements’

“It’s not often I agree with Kevin Foley, but he is dead right on this one,” said Mark Parnell.

“We shouldn’t be extending the enormously generous concessions granted to the world’s richest resource company when it is abundantly clear BHP Billiton has no intention to start the Olympic Dam expansion for years.

“It’s in South Australia’s best interests to negotiate a better deal if and when the project gets resurrected,” he said.

In Parliament tonight, Labor combined with the Liberal party to defeat the Motion and ratify the 4 year extension.

On one of the most radioactive days in State Parliament for some time, the Greens also moved a motion calling on the Government to prevent the transport of uranium from Western Australia through our State.  Adelaide-based Toro Energy Ltd is proposing to mine uranium in WA and ship the material to either Port Adelaide or Darwin through South Australia.

“It’s bad enough that SA uranium is being exported to facilities such as the crippled Fukushima reactor in Japan and hence into the broader environment through contamination.  We shouldn’t be the conduit for WA uranium either.  In both States, it’s best left in the ground”, concluded Mark  Parnell

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

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