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Uranium mining ‘rush” could be a ‘crash’ for Africa

Uranium ‘Rush’ Or ‘Crush’ for Erongo?, allAfrica.com: Adam Hartman 11 May 2010 “…………there are also elements that could turn this positive outlook into a uranium ‘crush’, with serious social, economic and environmental implications.One element is government’s non consideration to re-invest uranium revenue back into the environment and communities effected by the rush. Another element is an unforeseen event that destabilises uranium prices and the global uranium market, resulting in mines ‘turning off the lights and walking away’. Continue reading

May 13, 2010 Posted by | Namibia, politics international | , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Niger’s enviroment contaminated by AREVA’s radioactive uranium wastes

VIDEO Left in the Dust – Areva’s uranium mining in Niger | Greenpeace International

Left in the Dust – Areva’s uranium mining in Niger | Greenpeace International 6 May 2010, Operations of Nuclear giant AREVA put lives at risk in Niger. Uranium mines in Niger operated by the state-owned French nuclear giant AREVA continue to create a radioactive hazard for the people living nearby. Continue reading

May 7, 2010 Posted by | Niger, wastes | , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Community opposing nuclear power in South Africa’s Eastern Cape

The Fight Against Nuclear Power: suite101.com, by Christian Theron, 4 May 2010, The Community in South Africa’s Eastern Cape is currently facing Construction of a Nuclear Power Plant even though no guarantees of safety are provided. “… Continue reading

May 5, 2010 Posted by | politics, South Africa | , , , , | Leave a comment

The resource curse of uranium in African countries

A word of advice to our happy-go-lucky leaders: Keep that uranium underground,  Jenerali Ulimwengu, Tanzania , 26 April 2010 The East African: “………..we have plenty of evidence of the “resource curse” all the way from Angola to Sudan to Nigeria to Sierra Leone.A typical country afflicted by this curse can count itself lucky if all that it’s left with are gaping holes in the ground and a scorched-earth ecology. Continue reading

April 26, 2010 Posted by | AFRICA, environment | Leave a comment

Heavy toll of AREVA’s uranium mining on Niger’s poor

Niger: French State-Owned Company ‘Poisoning’ Poor | Coalition Against Nuclear Energy, Julio Godoy, April 2010, Paris — Recent research by Greenpeace suggests that French state-owned company Areva’s public claims of decontamination of populated areas near uranium mines in Niger are false. High radio-activity persists in towns and rural areas near the mines, affecting some 80,000 people… Continue reading

April 22, 2010 Posted by | environment, Niger | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

AREVA’s uranium mining first takes Namibia’s water, then offers to sell them water

The recent growth in uranium activities in Namibia has boosted water demand in the Erongo region, near the Namib Desert, and stretched the nation’s limited resources….Namwater, Namibia’s state-owned water supplier, will be able to buy the excess water to supply other mines, ensuring that a shortage doesn’t harm uranium production,

Areva Offers Uranium Miners in Namibia Water to Ease Shortages – BusinessWeek, 19 April 2010, Areva, based in Paris, will be able to supply about 6 million cubic meters (1.32 billion gallons) of treated water a year to other miners in Namibia’s Erongo region, Chief Executive Officer Anne Lauvergeon said at the plant’s opening on April 16…………….. Continue reading

April 20, 2010 Posted by | Namibia, spinbuster | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Areva and other uranium miners confronted by Niger’s new government

Niger government says will scrap mine deals if no benefit  Apr 16, 2010  By Abdoulaye Massalatchi NIAMEY (Reuters) – Niger’s military rulers will examine the country’s mining contracts and invalidate those that do not benefit Niger, it said on Friday.Several contracts, including those with French nuclear energy group Areva and China National Petroleum Corp., were signed under President Mamadou Tandja, who was overthrown by soldiers in the northwest African nation in February.”If a signed convention in the extractive industry is not advantageous for our country, there is no question of accepting it,” said government spokesman Mahaman Laouali Dan Dah.The military group has made anti-corruption a cornerstone of its appeal in the country, one of the world’s poorest despite its uranium mines and oil deposits….

Earlier this month, the government sacked 20 top officials working for state-owned companies, including those involved in representing the country’s uranium and oil interests.

Niger government says will scrap mine deals if no benefit | Top News | Reuters

April 17, 2010 Posted by | Niger, politics | , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

African countries seeking enriched uranium and nuclear power

others are fearful about security at nuclear power plants in Africa, worried that loose enriched uranium will fall into the wrong hands and be used to build a weapon

Beyond Iran: African Countries Seek Nuclear Power INDYPOSTED, 11 April 2010 by |  Ted Webb We hear about Iran’s development of nuclear energy in the news all the time, but many other countries are also working to enrich uranium, including Senegal and other African countries.

Right now South Africa has the continent’s only two nuclear power reactors, ABC News reports. But Senegal, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Algeria, Tunisia, Moroccco, Egypt, Ghana and Niger are all working to achieve nuclear energy.

Some hope nuclear power will help Africa economically, bring electricity to more people and prevent outages. But others are fearful about security at nuclear power plants in Africa, worried that loose enriched uranium will fall into the wrong hands and be used to build a weapon. Beyond Iran: African Countries Seek Nuclear Power

April 12, 2010 Posted by | AFRICA, politics international | , , , , , | Leave a comment

The nasty truth about France’s AREVA uranium company in Niger

The international nuclear industry is an integral part of this dirty scheme in France, Niger and elsewhere. It’s time to stop it in its tracks and get it to clean up the toxic mess it’s created.

Nuclear colonialism  News24: Columnists: AndreasSpath 2010-04-07 Fans of nuclear energy love France. They habitually depict the country which produces more than three quarters of its electricity using atomic power as the way forward to clean, cheap and low-carbon energy for all. In their enthusiasm they tend to ignore the less than glamorous aspects of the French nuclear industry. Continue reading

April 8, 2010 Posted by | environment, Niger | , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Tuareg and uranium: AREVA’s grip on Niger

“You can’t just fight against nuclear power plants and waste repositories,” he said. “If you want to kill the tree, kill the roots”. He was referring to the uranium mines.

Uranium Mining in Niger ‘Tuareg Activist Takes on French Nuclear Company’ The Blogger: 2 April 2010, “……..A total of 80,000 people live in the two cities Areva created in the desert to service the mines. There are no paved roads, but there is plenty of reddish-brown dust, which penetrates into every crack and pore. Well water is radioactively contaminated, and precious fossil groundwater is used in the uranium ore processing plant. The region’s nomads are finding fewer and fewer pastures for their cattle, and people are affected by fatal illnesses.

Citizens’ organizations critical of Areva claim that the little money the company pays to the Niger state remains in the capital or simply ends up in the pockets of family members of the longstanding president. When Alhacen is asked what the mine has done for people, he says: “Nothing — except radiation, which will be here for thousands of years”. Continue reading

April 3, 2010 Posted by | Niger, politics | , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Scandalous and continuing legacy of uranium mining in Niger

Uranium Mining in Niger ‘Tuareg Activist Takes on French Nuclear Company’, The Blogger, 2 April 2010,“……….Uranium from Niger has served as a fuel for Europe’s energy supply for 40 years. But unlike Saudi Arabia, Niger has arguably reaped little but misery in return.The country in Africa’s Sahel zone is one of the world’s least-developed nations. One in four children dies before the age of five.The conditions in Niger are one of the dirty sides of supposedly clean nuclear energy. The activities there are well hidden from the outside world: Continue reading

April 3, 2010 Posted by | Niger, politics | , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Uranium mining companies flock like vultures to exploited Niger

Niger coup: Good for Tuareg rebels, bad for uranium investors,  The Christian Science Monitor 23 March 2010, The military junta announced it will audit all uranium exploration permits awarded before last month’s Niger coup. Evidence has emerged that the permits enriched the ousted president and devastated the Tuareg population……, foreign investors from China, Australia, South Africa, America, and Canada have flocked to the landlocked Saharan state. Continue reading

March 23, 2010 Posted by | environment, Niger | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Uranium contracts with foreign firms exploit Niger

Uranium Major Niger Urged to Review Contracts,  ABC News,  NIAMEY (Reuters)  14 March 2010, – The new junta ruling in Niger, one of the world’s biggest uranium producers, should review and possibly renegotiate dozens of resource exploitation contracts, civil rights groups said on Saturday. Continue reading

March 15, 2010 Posted by | Niger, secrets,lies and civil liberties | , , , , | Leave a comment

World Bank withholds support for renewable energy in South Africa

It’s not just activists who are up in arms: the Cape Town Chamber of Commerce is calling for a national investigation into Eskom’s “sweetheart deals” for big industrial energy users at the expense of everyone else.

World Bank Gives South Africa Lumps of Coal, THE HUFFINGTON POST, by Lori Pottinger, 10 March 2010, In case you didn’t catch it, the World Bank’s top official for Africa just thumbed her nose at the dozens of renewable energy companies lining up to build clean energy in Africa’s dirtiest economy. Continue reading

March 10, 2010 Posted by | politics international, South Africa | , , | Leave a comment

Foreign uranium companies continue to rip off Niger’s poor

The neocolonial secret agreements giving Areva below-market prices mean that very little of the wealth from Niger’s uranium remains in the country.

Niger’s uranium coup, boilingspot: 7 March 2010 On February 18, Niger’s President Mamadou Tandja was overthrown in a military coup. A military junta calling itself the Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy, headed by Major Salou Djibo, took powerTony Iltis | Green Left Online | 6 March 2010 “……the junta is unlikely to confront the causes of Niger’s extreme poverty: Western-imposed neoliberal austerity and the environmentally and socially destructive plunder of natural resources, particularly uranium………….the coup ensures that political power remains with the same military officer caste from which Tandja came……. Continue reading

March 8, 2010 Posted by | indigenous issues, Niger | , , , , , , | Leave a comment