Thousands march in Niger to protest against AREVA
5,000 march against French uranium miner in Niger http://www.mining.com/5000-march-against-french-uranium-miner-in-niger-17954/Frik Els | October 12, 2013 Thousand of protestors marched against French uranium miner Areva (EPA:AREVA) in the remote town of Arlit in Niger on Saturday.
Areva has been operating in Niger for more than 50 years with two sites, Somair and Cominak, currently producing, and its long-term deal with the government of Niger is up for renegotiation at the end of 2013.
The roughly 5,000 protesters in Arlit were out in support of a Niger government audit to determine how to better distribute revenues from the two mines Reuters reports:
“We’re showing Areva that we are fed up and we’re demonstrating our support for the government in the contract renewal negotiations,” Azaoua Mamane, an Arlit civil society spokesman, said in an interview with a private radio station.
“We don’t have enough drinking water while the company pumps 20 million cubic meters of water each year for free. The government must negotiate a win-win partnership,” Mamane said.
The two mines together produce 4,500 tonnes of uranium for export to France and another project at Imouraren, which will be the largest uranium mine in Africa, is set to start operations in 2015.The Somair mine was back to full production in August, after a suicide attack in May killed one worker and injured 14 partially shutting down mining.
Prices for uranium are languishing at 8-year lows of $34 a pound and have not recovered since the Fukushima disaster in Japan in 2011
Unless Japan restarts nuclear reactors, uranium industry could be finshed
“Due to the huge impact of reduced demand from Japan, the reactor-restart story is likely to continue to be the main factor affecting the spot uranium price over the coming few months,
No Nukes, No Uranium BARRON’s By RHIANNON HOYLE 6 Oct 13 Japan’s 2011 disaster at Fukushima still weighs on national energy policies worldwide, as well as the commodity’s price. DJ-AIG Commodity Indexes Uranium prices are edging higher after a recent plunge to nearly eight-year lows, but that’s no reason for investors to pile in.
Demand for the nuclear fuel isn’t ramping up as expected. Japan, a major uranium user, has been slow to restart nuclear operations after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that devastated the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, and stockpiles of U3O8—the most actively traded compound of uranium—are growing.
Prices were down 22% when they hit their nadir last month. At $34 a pound, the commodity was worth just half what it had traded for prior to Fukushima.
Uranium is now trading at about $35 a pound as prices gravitate back toward the material’s production cost, which some analysts estimate to be $40 a pound. Continue reading
Niger aiming to get more taxes from Areva’s uranium mning
Niger’s Hedges Bets on French Uranium Assets Oil Price.com. By Editorial Dept | Fri, 04 October 2013 Bottom Line: Under constant threat of terrorist attacks in the security nightmare of Niger, French nuclear group Areva will now face an audit of its uranium mines as the Nigerien government seeks a better deal.
Analysis: Areva has two mines in Niger: Somair and Cominak. Together these two facilities produce about one-third of France’s nuclear power. But the 10-year contract for these mines ends this year, and the government of Niger is planning to take advantage of that by auditing the company and determining how it can get a better deal. The plan will be to increase tax revenues from Areva and to force it into more significant investments in infrastructure. Areva was operating at a loss last year, but is eyeing over 1.1 billion euros in operating profits for this year—and Niger is hoping to get a bigger chunk of this through taxes and infrastructure deals. The government of Niger already owns a 36.4% stake in Somair and a 31% stake in Cominak. Areva will now be audited first based on claims from some groups that it is not transparently reporting its revenues and operating costs. A third mine that is under construction—Areva’s Imouraren uranium mine—is also under scrutiny. The government of Niger has warned that the company will face fines if there are any further delays to the opening of this mine, now slated for 2015.
Recommendation: This could all play into the security question due to the level of government corruption in Niger,…(furher reading -subscription only) http://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Nuclear-Power/Nigers-Hedges-Bets-on-French-Uranium-Assets.html
Does USA even need the super-expensive new uranium processing facility ?
Costs for new nuclear facility skyrocket as critics question its creation By Barnini Chakraborty October 04, 2013 FoxNews.com WASHINGTON – Plans for a new facility that will handle, dismantle and secure nuclear material are in a major meltdown.
The price tag attached to the country’s largest uranium processing facility under the direction of the Department of Energy has climbed to more than 19 times its original estimate. What’s worse is that much of the Tennessee complex, according to the government’s own calculations, isn’t needed and the rest will most likely be outdated when the facility becomes fully operational — two decades from now. Continue reading
Film: Uranium in situ mining, radiation in water, cancer
The mining companies know that if the leaching solution breaks into an aquifer, the water is contaminated and cannot be corrected. They cannot and will not guarantee it but will only promise to use the best available technology and make the best possible effort to correct the problem. Then as always, they will walk away with the ore and the profits and leave local residents and federal taxpayers to deal with the aftermath.
Hot Water: The Uranium Industry’s Dirty Little Story The only thing green about nuclear power are the people who think it’s safe. Lizabeth Rogers Activist Post 2 Oct 13,
HOT WATER Documentary Trailer
How many do you know today?
I began this odyssey, innocently enough in July 2009 when I led a filmmaking crew to South Dakota to investigate what we had heard was an abandoned uranium mine which had contaminated local groundwater and made local ranchers, their children and even their livestock sick. Continue reading
Legal opinion on Iran’s right to uranium enrichmen
Iran’s right to uranium enrichment unquestionable: Intl. lawyer An international lawyer tells Press TV that Iran’s right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes is unquestionable under the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).Press TV 30 Sept 13
Alfred Lambremont Webre said Monday that Iranian officials have made it clear that they will not go after weapons-grade uranium enrichment, citing Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei’s fatwa on the prohibition of nuclear arms production and development.
“I think things are very clear that statements have been made that Iran will not be going forward to enrich at weapons grade, which is over 90 percent. It will be doing under 20 percent down to 5 percent, which is enough for power enrichment,” he said.
“There is no question that under the NPT Iran has the right to enrich uranium of non-weapons grade, that is, of power-station grade, which you would say would be between 5 percent and certainly under 20 percent,” he added.
He said that there was no evidence that Iran was intending to develop nuclear weapons, adding the Islamic Republic was enriching for nuclear power as its “basic legal right.” …..http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/09/30/326923/iran-right-to-enrichment-unquestionable/
Astroturfing in North Dakota – sly underhand promotion of uranium mining interests
Thoughts on the uranium debacle http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/communities/hot-springs/opinion/thoughts-on-the-uranium-debacle/article_f681dd4c-29ef-11e3-9acc-0019bb2963f4.html By Rebecca Leas, PhD 1 Oct 13 Unless you ‘ve been living in a cave, you know natural gas is the new major focus for energy. Natural gas has negatively affected the nuclear industry, resulting in decreased demand for uranium. Germany is nearly nuclear-free and other countries, including the United States, are closing down reactors. The U.S.’s reactors are in ill repair and very susceptible to weather events, earthquakes, and terrorism. Our storage of spent fuel is outdated, making our reactors very vulnerable. Europe uses a “HOSS” (Hardened On-Site Storage) system greatly reducing the risks.
The USA is shutting down reactors and has sufficient uranium available. France is perfecting a system of re-using uranium which will further decrease its demand.
Confusing the public are Powertech (PT) employees, shareholders and supporters writing Letters to the Editor, but not identifying themselves as such. This is important for the public to know. Continue reading
Sierra Club outlines Cameco’s uranium pollution
Cameco, Sierra Club face off over uranium licences for Saskatchewan mines THE STAR PHOENIX THE CANADIAN PRESS SEPTEMBER 30, 2013 SASKATOON – An environmental group is raising pollution concerns about Cameco’s uranium mining in northern Saskatchewan to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission.
But Cameco says the Sierra Club’s allegations that it massively exceeded regulatory limits are false.
The commission will hear from both sides as public hearings start Tuesday on Cameco’s application to renew its mine and mill licences for its Key Lake, McArthur River and Rabbit Lake facilities.
“The most disturbing thing we discovered in the process of preparing the submission were huge, very huge numbers, in terms of pollution that’s coming from the plant and getting into the environment,” John Bennett, executive director of Sierra Club Canada, said Monday.
“Every kind of pollutant that comes out of them, their numbers are way over the limits and no one’s been enforcing it.”
The Sierra Club says that as of 2010, water releases from the Deilmann tailings facility in cadmium exceed the Saskatchewan standard by 5,782 per cent.
It says the Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment allows Cameco to release water from tailings ponds directly into the environment at Horsefly Lake.
The organization also says at the McArthur River site, concentrations of arsenic, selenium, and uranium in water effluent have exceeded the standards by 54 per cent for arsenic, 700 per cent for selenium and 1,230 per cent for uranium. It says blueberries and fish are contaminated with uranium.
The Sierra Club says the pollution is increasing the risk to human health and local eco-systems.
“We think that before any kind of change, any kind of renewal of the licence, there needs to be an environmental impact study — which there hasn’t been yet,” Bennett said in an interview from Ottawa……..
The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission hearings, which are being held in La Ronge, will last three days and will be webcast on nuclearsafety.gc.ca. http://www.thestarphoenix.com/business/Cameco+Sierra+Club+face+over+uranium+licences+Saskatchewan/8978684/story.html
Can USA afford Oakridge’s $12 billion uranium processing folly?
Estimate for uranium facility goes from $600 million to $11.6 billion, LA Times, 28 Sept 13 It would be one of the largest nuclear weapons investments since World War II. The cost of a proposed uranium processing facility for nuclear weapons in Oakridge, Tenn., has soared as high as $11.6 billion — 19 times the original estimate — even as critics accuse the Energy Department of overstating the need for spare bomb parts.
Under a proposal unveiled in 2005, the manufacturing plant at the Y-12 National Security Complex would produce new uranium cores for the nation’s stockpile of aging hydrogen bombs.
But not long after the plan was disclosed, with an estimated cost of $600 million, the price tag began to climb. Now, the processing facility would be among the largest investments in the U.S. nuclear weapons infrastructure since the Manhattan Project, which developed the atomic bomb during World War II.
The facility has drawn sharp criticism by the Project on Government Oversight, a Washington watchdog group, which advocates that the plan be scrapped. In a report issued Wednesday, the group cites a little-noticed report by the Army Corps of Engineers that made the $11.6-billion cost estimate and argued that the work could be done more cheaply at existing facilities……
The escalating cost reflects questions that have troubled the Energy Department’s nuclear weapons complex since the end of the Cold War: How long will the Pentagon need a stockpile of nuclear weapons, and how can the massive industrial network needed to maintain the bombs be kept going at an affordable level?…… http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-bomb-factory-20130925,0,6160248..story
Uncertain future for Japan’s nuclear industry affects Cameco’s grading
Bank of America Downgrades Cameco on Lower Uranium Forecast Dwight Einhorn, Benzinga Staff Writer 27 Sept 13, In a report published Friday, Bank of America analyst Oscar Cabrera downgraded the rating on Cameco Corporation (NYSE: CCJ [FREE Stock Trend Analysis]) from Buy to Neutral, and lowered the price
target from $25.00 to $22.00.
In the report, Bank of America noted, “We are downgrading Cameco (CCO) to a Neutral from Buy rating, and lowering our price objective (PO) to $22/share from $25, following our commodities team downgrade of our 2013-15 uranium price forecast due to slower than expected Japanese reactor restarts after the country’s nuclear accident at Fukushima in March 2011……. http://www.benzinga.com/analyst-ratings/analyst-color/13/09/3947890/update-bank-of-america-downgrades-cameco-on-lower-uraniu#ixzz2gDw46reS
Libya’s 6,400 Barrels of Uranium controlled by militias
Libya Wondering What to do with 6,400 Barrels of Uranium Stored in City Controlled by Militias Front Page mag, September 26, 2013 By Daniel Greenfield At the UN, Obama asked whether it would have really been better to leave Gaddafi in charge of Libya. Can we get a final answer on that after we decide what to do about those 6,400 barrels of uranium?
The country was reportedly holding 6,400 barrels of the “yellowcake” uranium at a warehouse in Sabha.
Foreign Minister Muhammad Abdul Aziz said his country “is trying to determine if the concentrated uranium can be used for peaceful nuclear energy purposes or sold to countries which use the product for peaceful purposes.”
An independent think tank in Tripoli, though, has reportedly advised the government to use the material in its nascent nuclear-power program, as well as for “industrial and agricultural development.”
How secure is the city of Sabha? As secure as any place in Libya. Which is to say… not at all….http://frontpagemag.com/2013/dgreenfield/libya-wondering-what-to-do-with-6400-barrels-of-uranium-stored-in-city-controlled-by-militias/
Tax authority says that Cameco owes $millions to Canada
CRA says Saskatchewan uranium giant Cameco has avoided paying hundreds of millions in Canadian taxes by offshoring profits in Switzerland http://business.financialpost.com/2013/09/25/cameco-cra-tax/ John Greenwood | 25/09/13 The Canada Revenue Agency says Saskatchewan-based Cameco Corp. hasn’t been paying its taxes and it wants the money. Now Saskatchewan premier Brad Wall has joined the fray, calling for Cameco, the world’s largest publicly traded uranium producer, to pay up.
Speaking to reporters this week, Mr. Wall said part of the tax revenue that Ottawa collects ends up going back to the provinces, so when the CRA says it’s not getting what it believes it should, “that’s a concern to [Saskatchewan] as well, and it should be. It doesn’t matter who the company is, or the individual. We should pay taxes that are due.”
At issue is Cameco’s alleged practice of shifting profits to a Switzerland subsidiary where taxes are lower. And while the Cameco case has been going on for several years and though the CRA won the most recent round, the ruling is being appealed and observers say it is unclear who will come out on top.
“The CRA has had a lot of trouble proving some of these cases in court,” said Dennis Howlett, executive director of Canadians for Tax Fairness.
Observers say the practice of transfer pricing as a way to lower tax rates is widespread across corporate Canada, engaged in by many of the biggest and best known players across a swath of industries.
South Dakota medical association unanimously opposes uranium mining in Black Hills
The acceptance by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission that “the restoration of an ISL-mined aquifer to pre-mining water quality is … an impossibility.”
“the loss of large volumes of water in such mining operations is not in the public interest” when “considering the projected future scarcity of uncontaminated fresh water in our semi-arid region.”
SD medical association unanimously against uranium mining in Hills http://www.bhpioneer.com/local_news/article_833ccd96-2536-11e3-b6be-0019bb2963f4.html 24 Sept 13,
Group hopes to work with Colorado Medical Society, bring petition to AMA By Adam Hurlburt Black Hills Pioneer
CHAMBERLAIN — The South Dakota State Medical Association has come out in opposition of uranium mining in the Black Hills in direct response to Powertech USA’s proposed in situ leach (ISL) uranium mining project in Fall River County, making it the second statewide medical association to publicly oppose uranium mining in response to a Powertech ISL uranium mining proposal in the past six years.
At a recent meeting held in Chamberlain, the SDSMA’s 78-member Council of Physicians unanimously voted to support a petition opposing not only Powertech’s proposed Dewey-Burdock ISL uranium mining project in the Southern Hills, but uranium mining of any type in the Black Hills Area.
“The vote was held after a careful and thoughtful discussion,” SDSMA President Dr. Daniel Heinemann said in a prepared statement Monday afternoon. “The health and safety of the public is of paramount concern to the SDSMA when considering issues such as this.” Continue reading
Niger government wants French uranium company AREVA to stop ripping it off
Niger audits Areva uranium mines, seeking better deal By Daniel Flynn and Abdoulaye Massalatchi NIAMEY | Fri Sep 20, 2013 (Reuters) – Niger has ordered an audit of French nuclear group Areva’s (AREVA.PA) uranium mines in the West African country as it presses for a better deal in talks over a new long-term contract, Mining Minister Omar Hamidou Tchiana told Reuters.
Areva’s two mines in Niger – Somair and Cominak – produce the fuel for roughly one-third of France’s nuclear power, providing some of the cheapest electricity in the West.
Niger, a former French colony and one of the world’s poorest countries, has long complained it does not reap enough benefits from these resources……..
Extractive industries watchdogs, including the local branch of Publish What You Pay, have accused Areva of a lack of transparency in its revenues and costs in Niger…….
Previous Niger governments have struggled to substantially increase the state’s take from uranium and details of the 2003 mining contract have been kept confidential. The IMF estimates Niger’s gross domestic product at around 5.5 billion euros, only just over half of Areva’s revenues of 9.3 billion in 2012……..http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/20/us-niger-areva-idUSBRE98J0MY20130920
Arms and uranium trade pact between Zimbabwe and North Korea
Zimbabwe in ‘arms for uranium’ pact with North Korea Nehanda Radio 19 Sept 13, President Robert Mugabe’s military henchmen have reportedly signed an arms trade agreement worth millions of dollars with North Korea, in return for allowing Pyongyang access to Zimbabwe’s controversial Kanyemba district, which has sparked a uranium mining race pitting Iran and other powers, Nehanda Radio has been told.
Kanyemba district is about 160 miles north of the capital, and is believed to be holding significant uranium reserves, first discovered in the 1970s by German prospectors, but never exploited due to low world prices at the time.
Several other countries have sought the rights to mine Zimbabwe’s untapped uranium deposits, and these include Russia, China and a failed bid by neighbouring South Africa and Namibia, as they scramble for the Yellow cake which is a key ingredient needed for the production of nuclear bombs. Continue reading
1 This Month
of the week – Shut Down Drone Warfare!
Tell the Ukrainian Government to Drop Prosecution of Peace Activist Yurii Sheliazhenko
Petition to revoke the licensing of the Near Surface Nuclear Disposal Facility (NSDF) at Chalk River. https://www.ourcommons.ca/petitions/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-7247
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