A new demand for uranium power brings concerns for Navajo groups
Mining planned at a mountain considered sacred

Washington Post
October 25, 2009 Indian people gathered in Acoma, N.M., for the Indigenous Uranium Forum over the weekend decried future uranium extraction, especially from nearby Mount Taylor, considered sacred by many tribes. Native people from Alaska, Canada, the Western United States and South America discussed the severe health problems uranium mining has caused their communities, including high rates of cancer and kidney disease……………

“This has multi-generational effects. I won’t even live long enough to see what it does to people in 500 years,” said Earl Tulley, who lives near Church Rock and is vice president of the Navajo environmental group Diné Citizens Against Ruining Our Environment. His wife had breast cancer and his daughter had an ovarian tumor removed, both of which were attributed to uranium exposure. “People are being taken apart from the inside out.”……………..

Interior Secretary Ken L. Salazar over the summer instituted a two-year moratorium on awarding new claims or beginning production on claims not already established as viable. While it is not tribal land, this region is considered sacred to many Indians. Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr. and other tribal leaders testified in support of a House bill introduced this year by  Rep. Raul

Malawi: Govt. ignorant of exported Uranium tonnage | Business News – TheZimbabwean.co.uk by Nyasa Times Sunday, 25 October 2009 Government is yet to know about the quantity of Uranium exported by Australia-based Paladin Africa last month.

Paladin is mining Uranium at Kayelekera in Karonga. The company exported its first uranium last month, but Energy and Natural Resources Minister Grain Malunga says his ministry is yet to be briefed about the quantity exported………..

Uranium has become one of the most sensitive minerals in this era of nuclear energy and power, and government may be taken to task by the International Atomic Agency (IAA) for not following up of exported quantity.

IAA calls for strict monitoring and handling of uranium to prevent it from falling into unsafe hands, possibly terrorists.

Malawi: Govt. ignorant of exported Uranium tonnage | Business News – TheZimbabwean.co.uk

BHP warns of Olympic Dam disruption until 2010  Guardian.co.uk. 22 Oct 09 Following yesterday’s mixed production report from Xstrata, comes a similar theme from BHP Billiton. “……….

BHP also warned of higher than normal stockpiles of commodities in the key Chinese market. Charles Kernot at Evolution Securities issued a sell note, saying:

Production was mixed and is still broadly below year-ago levels (with the exception of oil and gas). Commodity expectations are the bug-bear with near-term demand likely to weaken rather than strengthen.

The group’s outlook statement… confirms our view that Chinese restocking is at an end and current metal stocks are at higher than normal levels. The rest of the world is still suffering and there is no expectation of higher demand until after mid-2010 – nine months away…………….The news has left BHP shares down 30p at £17.96.

BHP warns of Olympic Dam dispruption until 2010 | Business | guardian.co.uk

Long outage expected for Olympic Dam THE AUSTRALIAN Matt Chambers | October 22, 2009  BHP Billiton has confirmed that damage to its Olympic Dam underground copper and uranium mine, caused by a plummeting fully loaded ore skip, will keep the operation at one-quarter capacity for up to six months. ……

We expect ore hoisting will be at approximately 25 per cent capacity until full production resumes in the third quarter of the 2010 financial year,” BHP said yesterday in its first-quarter production report.

The damage happened on October 6 when a breakdown in the hoisting system sent a full skip of ore hurtling to the bottom of the 800m deep Clarke mine shaft, which was the bigger of the two at Olympic Dam.

The weight of the loaded ore skip that fell sent another skip on a linked cable shooting up into the headframe at the top of the Clark shaft………………….

BHP would give no information on the fate of the more than 3000 workers at the operation during the outage of up to six months. It would also not say whether the smelter could be economically run at just 25 per cent capacity, or what the impact on metal and concentrate sales would be.

Long outage expected for Olympic Dam | The Australian