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First Uranium company teeters on the brink of collapse

What will happen to First Uranium? First Uranium is looking at a distress sale of assets to settle upcoming debts, a move that would have a number of implications for shareholders Christy Filen , 22 Feb 2012   JOHANNESBURG (MINEWEB) – 

It is no secret that First Uranium is in a pickle. Releasing a forecast that shows its cash will run out by the end of March will be cold comfort to shareholders and creditors alike…. First Uranium has turned to what is conceivably its only option and that is a distress sale of its assets in an effort to settle upcoming debts….. As if this wasn’t enough First Uranium’s Ezulwini operation is not making the gradeand its Mine Waste Solutions (MWS) is fighting licensing issues with environmentalists and the Department of Mineral Resources. In terms of the results of an impairment exercise of the Ezulwini Mine’s assets, an impairment adjustment of $180m was recognised in the company’s financial statements…. “The Company’s ability to continue as a going concern is dependent upon its ability to bring these proposed transactions to fruition” said First Uranium….. http://www.mineweb.com/mineweb/view/mineweb/en/page34?oid=145826&sn=Detail&pid=102055

February 23, 2012 Posted by | business and costs, South Africa, Uranium | Leave a comment

Uranium mining’s radiation dangers continue near Grand Canyon

Risks remain from uranium mining near the Grand Canyon  Feb 22, 2012   High Country News By Heather Hansen, Red Lodge Clearing House.  “…..    There are over 5,000 active uranium claims within those one million acres. The withdrawal goes a long way toward protecting the watersheds, seeps and springs, sacred sites and critical wildlife habitat in the area because the only claims that can now be mined would have had to establish “valid existing rights,” before the 2009 moratorium. Yet even with these protections, the mines with existing rights — the ones allowed to operate despite the moratorium —  may still have a significant negative impact on the Grand Canyon environment Continue reading →

February 23, 2012 Posted by | environment, Uranium, USA | Leave a comment

How some uranium mining corporations deceive developing countries

Mining deals worry industry grouping The Daily Times,  21 February 2012  Isaac Masingati An international mining industry grouping, Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals and Sustainable Development (IGF), says it is concerned with contracts between investors and governments especially in developing countries, saying they tend to be skewed in favour the investor.

IGF President Leonard Kalindekafe told the Business Times in Zomba on Friday that there was a concern among members of the grouping that some investors were taking advantage of governments’ lack of expertise to strike deals that bring little profits. ”This is a big concern to the Forum because some bona fide countries are not able to realise full benefits from their minerals,” he said. Continue reading →

February 22, 2012 Posted by | Malawi, secrets,lies and civil liberties, Uranium | Leave a comment

Thorium reactors won’t save the nuclear industry

Nuclear power entrepreneurs push thorium as a fuel, Washington Post, 20 Feb 12,   “…..  a small group of scientists, entrepreneurs and advocates see the post-Fukushima era as the perfect opportunity to get the United States to consider a proposal they have made with no success for years. What about trying a new fuel, they say, and maybe a new kind of reactor?…..  They’re pushing the idea of adapting plants to use thorium as a fuel or replacing them with a completely new kind of reactor called a liquid-fluoride thorium reactor, or LFTR (pronounced “lifter”). The LFTR would use a mixture of molten chemical salts to cool the reactor and to transfer energy from the fission reaction to a turbine..

….‘Small boatloads of fanatics’ Although the idea of thorium power has been around for decades — and some countries are planning to build thorium-powered plants — it has not caught on with the companies that design and build nuclear plants in the United States or with the national research labs charged with investigating future energy sources.

“There are small boatloads of fanatics on thorium that don’t see the downsides,” said Dan Ingersoll, senior project manager for nuclear technology at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. For one thing, he said, it would be too expensive to replace or convert the nuclear power plants already running in this country: “A thorium-based fuel cycle has some advantages, but it’s not compelling for infrastructure and investments.”

He also pointed out that thorium would still have some radioactive byproducts — just not as much as uranium and not as long-lived — and that there is no ready stockpile of thorium in the United States. It would have to be mined.

Overall, he says the benefits don’t outweigh the huge costs of switching technologies. “I’m looking for something compelling enough to trash billions of dollars of infrastructure that we have already and I don’t see that.”……    most U.S. nuclear energy industry executives are wary of both approaches to thorium, saying that neither utilities nor investors are eager to gamble on an unfamiliar technology….

February 21, 2012 Posted by | 2 WORLD, business and costs, Uranium | Leave a comment

Court action over radioactive waste faces Australian company Lynas

Lynas itself had admitted it had no prepared any such permanent waste storage facility 

 I cannot understand why Malaysia is prepared to tolerate the potential hazards to occur here from a plant which will give no substantial benefit of Malaysia because of the pioneer status granted to Lynas for 10 years

Lynas Corp failed to meet any of the conditions in its first proposals, according to the regulator.

Anti-Lynas groups are planning a mammoth rally in Kuantan on February 26 to pressure Putrajaya to terminate the project.

A year on, anti-Lynas campaign goes to court http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/a-year-on-anti-lynas-campaign-goes-to-court The Malaysian Insider By Debra Chong , February 17, 2012 KUALA LUMPUR,   — A nationwide campaign to stop Lynas heads into the courtroom with damaging allegations against the Australian rare earths producer and Malaysia’s regulators.

The court filing also accuses Lynas of economic imperialism and points out that until today it does not have a plan to permanently dispose of its waste, some which contain potentially harmful levels of radiation. Continue reading →

February 18, 2012 Posted by | ASIA, Legal, Uranium | Leave a comment

For the 4th time, a failed attempt to overturn the ban on uranum mining near Grand Canyon

Fourth Legislative Attack On Grand Canyon Uranium Ban Fails ENews Park Forest,  16 FEBRUARY 2012  WASHINGTON–(ENEWSPF)  The fourth legislative attempt to block the Obama administration’s ban on new uranium development across 1 million acres of public land surrounding Grand Canyon National Park died Tuesday night when the House rules committee ruled it out of order. Continue reading →

February 17, 2012 Posted by | politics, Uranium, USA | Leave a comment

The human consequences of uranium mining

“The most difficult part for the victims of uranium exposure is to prove that their symptoms are directly related to the work they were doing in those mines,” Hecht said. Due to this difficulty, workers do not receive any compensation.

Lecture tackles global uranium trade, The Brown Daily Herald. Alissa Haddaji, February 17, 2012 To understand the consequences of global uranium trade in Africa, the intricate interaction between political lobbying, government and human interests must be explored, said Gabrielle Hecht, professor of history at the University of Michigan, in a lecture hosted by the science and technology studies program Thursday.

The presentation — held in Smith-Buonanno 106 — was part of the program’s lecture series “Nothing Can Go Wrong: Rethinking Nuclear Energy in the 21st Century” and  introduced themes from Hecht’s forthcoming book, “Being Nuclear: Africans and the Global Uranium
Trade.” …. Continue reading →

February 17, 2012 Posted by | health, Namibia, Uranium | Leave a comment

Thorium nuclear reactors – not all they’re cracked up to be

What you then get, as well as heat energy, radiation, and fission products from the Plutonium and Uranium, is U232. U232 (and its decay products) emit very hard gamma radiation.

  will anyone really trust the nuclear lobby when it says ‘we have the answer’, as so often before?

Nuclear Problems, Environmental Research Web, 12 Feb 12,”……With uranium fired reactors out of favour after Fukushima, for the longer term, some in the nuclear lobby have been promoting thorium as an allegedly safer fuel- looking at molten flouride salt systems.

The Weinberg Foundation was launched last year to promote the Liquid Flouride Thorium Reactor (LFTR) Continue reading →

February 14, 2012 Posted by | 2 WORLD, Reference, safety, technology, Uranium | Leave a comment

Cameco uranium company cuts production in view of nuclear industry slowdown

Cameco outlook sours amid doubts on nuclear’s future * Company sees 2012 revenue flat to down 5 percent

* Eyes lower production in 2012

* Shares down 1 pct at C$23.12 

TORONTO, Feb 10 (Reuters) – Uranium producer Cameco forecast lower sales and highlighted doubts about the takeup of nuclear power in its stronger than expected quarterly results, and its shares edged lower on Friday, ……
Cameco, the world’s No.1 publicly-listed uranium producer, also lowered its 2012 uranium production outlook by 3 percent to 21.7 million pounds and said delays and cancellations after last year’s Fukushima nuclear disaster could hit prices.

Germany, which represents about 5 percent of the global market for uranium, plans to phase out its reactors by 2022.

Japan shut down most of its reactors for testing after the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami that crippled the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, and is expected to take its remaining three reactors offline for maintenance in the next few months.

“It remains unclear what level of nuclear power Japan itself – which represents 12 percent of global nuclear generating capacity – will depend on in the future,” Cameco said.

February 11, 2012 Posted by | business and costs, Canada, Uranium | Leave a comment

Process for terminating Cotter company’s radioactive license in Colorado

The majority of the documents being reviewed currently concern characterization of the soil and groundwater contamination on site and cleanup criteria.

Cotter documents under review, Company in process to terminate radioactive materials license, Canon City Daily Record, By RACHEL ALEXANDER    02/10/2012  A public meeting was held Thursday with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and Cotter Corp. to discuss three upcoming department decisions.

The documents currently under review by CDPHE, the Environmental Protection agency and the public are the New Evaporation Pond
Conceptual Design; the Onsite Soil Excavation and Groundwater Characterization Process Plan; and the Soil Remediation Criteria
Selection.

This is the first round of documents that are being developed by Cotter as part of the process to terminate its radioactive materials
license and the deletion of the site from the Superfund list. Continue reading →

February 11, 2012 Posted by | Uranium, USA, wastes | Leave a comment

Virginia Uranium’ s lavish gifts to law-makers

Va. Uranium tops in 2011 gifts to state lawmakers, By David Sherfinski-The Washington Times, February 7, 2012 Virginia Uranium, which is pushing to mine a 119 million-pound deposit in southside Pittsyvania County, gave more than $120,000 in gifts and trips last year to state lawmakers — tops in Virginia — according to figures released Tuesday by the nonpartisan Virginia Public Access Project.

Lawmakers reported receiving a total of nearly a quarter million dollars’ worth of gifts.

The top five donors were Va. Uranium ($120,336) , Dominion Power ($16,916), Jonnie R. Williams Sr ($15,233). Alexander B. McMurtrie Jr. ($12,322) and the State of Taiwan ($11,000.)

Virginia Uranium flew 15 lawmakers to examine mines on fact-finding missions in France and/or Canada. Continue reading →

February 8, 2012 Posted by | politics, Uranium, USA | Leave a comment

Iran says enriching uranium under IAEA supervision

Iran Starts Uranium Enrichment at Underground Complex, VOA, January 9th, 2012  Iran on Monday confirmed it has started uranium enrichment at a second facility where the material can be upgraded quickly for potential use in a nuclear bomb.

Iran’s envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, said Tehran is refining uranium at the newly-launched Fordo complex and an older facility in the city of Natanz. He told Iran’s Arabic language al Alam TV network the work was taking place under thesupervision of the United Nations atomic agency.

Diplomats with ties to the IAEA confirmed that Iranian centrifuges have begun refining uranium to a purity of 20 percent at Fordo, an underground complex near the Shi’ite holy city of Qom.
The United States and France condemned the move…… Most of the work at the Natanz facility has involved refining uranium to a relatively low purity of 3.5 percent. Enrichment to the 20 percent level at the Fordo complex could reduce the time needed for Iran to further refine the material to the 90 percent purity required for nuclear weapons.
Iran says its nuclear program is designed only to generate electricity and material for medical research.
The United States and its ally Israel have not ruled out military action to stop the program. Israel sees a nuclear-armed Iran as a threat to its existence.
http://blogs.voanews.com/breaking-news/2012/01/09/iran-starts-uranium-enrichment-at-underground-complex-3/

February 7, 2012 Posted by | Iran, politics international, Uranium | Leave a comment

Malaysia facing radioactive threat from Australian rare earths company Lynas

Malaysian group to file suit to challenge approval for Aussie rare earth plant  Washington Post, : February 2 LAWSUIT PLANNED: A Malaysian group representing villagers and civil groups will file a legal challenge to the government’s decision to approve a $230 million rare earths plant by Australian miner Lynas Corp., a lawmaker said Thursday. http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/industries/malaysian-group-to-file-suit-to-challenge-approval-for-aussie-rare-earth-plant/2012/02/02/gIQAmIwDlQ_story.html

Key victory, but battle is not over yet BY: ROWAN CALLICK,  : The Australian February03, 2012  ”….Environmental concerns have been driving greater political involvement in Malaysia as the population becomes better educated.

Growing ecological awareness has provided a common cause for middle-class activists of the three races — Malays, Chinese and Indians — who have tended otherwise to be divided by the country’s political parties…. The plant approval intensifies the need for Lynas to operate it impeccably and to build its community relations, because an election is almost certain to be called in Malaysia later this year.    Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has already warned that his three-party coalition would scrap the plant if it wins the election.

Fuziah says Lynas plant will scare off other investors, The Malaysian Insider, By Shannon Teoh January 31, 2012 KUALA LUMPUR,  — Kuantan MP Fuziah Salleh has hit back at Lynas Corp, insisting that the presence of the Australian miner’s RM2.5 billion rare earth plant would deter investors from Pahang.

 Earlier today, Lynas executive chairman Nicholas Curtis warned against any move by Pakatan Rakyat (PR) to shut the company’s refinery, which has raised fears of radiation pollution, saying such action would deter foreign investors.

Fuziah, who has led protests by locals and environmentalists against the plant, said yesterday the federal opposition would shut down the plant if it won a general election that must be called by May next year.

“Would any foreign investor want to site their operations right beside a rare earth plant? Would companies like Siemens want to set up near Lynas?

“This is not a strategic investment in terms of risk versus benefit. We don’t need rare earth to be high-tech. Germany doesn’t have rare earth,” she told The Malaysian Insider……

“(PAS spiritual leader) Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat has said if you want to close down Lynas, vote for Pakatan. (Opposition Leader) Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has also said the same.

“I am not just anybody. I am PKR vice president and a member of the Pakatan leadership council,” she said.

The Australian miner said last week it expects the start of operations to be delayed to the second quarter from the first quarter of this year.

The plant was due to start operations in September last year but Putrajaya bowed to public pressure last April after sustained opposition from local residents and environmentalists and put the project on ice pending the review by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

In July 2011, the government agency adopted 11 recommendations set out by the review of the refinery and said it would not allow Lynas to begin operations or import rare earth ore until all conditions, which include a comprehensive, long-term and detailed plan for managing radioactive waste, are met.

However, AELB has said Lynas Corp failed to meet any of the conditions in its first proposals…. http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/fuziah-says-lynas-plant-will-scare-off-other-investors

February 3, 2012 Posted by | Malaysia, politics, Uranium, wastes | Leave a comment

Complicated nuclear politics in Sweden

Political quarrel about uranium mining, Stockholm News, MATS ÖHLÉN 1 Feb 12, A rather peculiar situation has emerged in the Swedish Riksdag. Despite the fact that the Centre Party is clearly in favour of prohibiting uranium mining in Sweden, it’s about to vote down such a
proposal from the Greens. The reason is that the Centre Party is loyal with its coalition parties in the governing four-party alliance.

The Greens have earlier proposed a prohibition in the Riksdag but was voted down by among else the Centre Party. In a new attempt to get support for the proposal, the Greens have now reformulated their proposal exactly as the Centre Party does in it’s party congress decision in the issue.

After the initial preparation of the issue in the parliamentary Committee of Industry in Trade, it was clear that the Centre Party will vote against the proposal also this time. This according to the chief whip of the Centre Party group in Riksdag Anders W. Jonsson.

“If the Centre Party would vote in favour of the Green’s proposal, it would seriously damage our possibilities to convince our coalition parties in the government offices to present such a proposal”, Jonsson says to public broadcaster Sveriges Radio (SR)…..

Lise Nordin the economic spokesperson for the Greens is very critical towards the Centre Party. “The Centre Party choose power before the environment. Now they have the chance to decide that all threatened areas finally get a closure in this issue. But when it comes to it in the RIksdag, the Centre Party doesn’t stand up for the ideas which it claims to represent”, Lise Nordin says to SR. http://www.stockholmnews.com/more.aspx?NID=8356

February 2, 2012 Posted by | politics, Sweden, Uranium | Leave a comment

Area on endangered list, due to possibility of uranium mining

Uranium puts Southside on endangered list  GoDanRiver.com  January 27, 2012 Southside landed on the Southern Environmental Law Center’s fourth annual Top 10 Endangered Places in the Southeast list because of proposed uranium mining and pressure to lift Virginia’s uranium moratorium.

Many of the areas on SELC’s top 10 list are endangered by pressure to undercut environmental protections and to lower the hurdles for potentially destructive projects, …..

January 28, 2012 Posted by | environment, Uranium, USA | Leave a comment

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