Malawi call for Paladin uranium company to “walk the talk” on transparency and accountability
Wake up call for Paladin, The Times Group, 27 nov 12 A few weeks ago, I published on this column a letter I sent to Paladin Energy’s Managing Director John Borshoff in which I complained about the company’s lack of respect for Malawians through their non-responsiveness to media queries from Malawi.
A few weeks ago, some two courageous community groups in Karonga, where Paladin Africa operates the Kayelekera Uranium Mine, organised protests against the company’s unfulfilled social responsibility promises as well as its failure to support local businesses and farmers through its preference for imported items for its food and other provisions.
To put the record straight, Kayelekera is an important project in the country which every Malawian should be proud of as it is significant not only for job creation, government revenue contribution and foreign currency earnings but also as a flagship foreign direct investment in the country which can encourage other international corporations to consider investing in Malawi.
However, the perception about the company among Malawians is not positive not because the people just don’t like the investment but because of the way management of the company has conducted itself since their establishment.
Despite their profile as an established company from a developed and democratic country, Australia, where corporation operates based on acceptable corporate governance principles such as transparency and accountability, Paladin Energy’s image in Malawi is that of a closed, secretive, agrarian and mysterious giant that has ring-fenced itself as a foreign island within Malawi.
For example, apart from employees and senior government officials, which other Malawians can claim to have set their foot in the Kayelekera Mine complex in Karonga?…..
The protest which failed to take place against the company a few weeks ago should serve as a wake-up call to the company about the intense negativity of its business among Malawians.
Their stated commitment to uphold transparency and accountability about the Kayelekera Uranium Mine is not enough. They need to demonstrate that actively and walk the talk. Otherwise, they should expect more resentment and civil action in the coming years as Malawians are no longer a passive society that sits back and watch helplessly when other people are exploiting their resources over their heads in the name of foreign investment. Thumbs down Paladin Energy. http://www.bnltimes.com/index.php/daily-times/headlines/opinion/12628-carlsberg-paladin-limbe-police-subject-of-the-thumb
Lynas accused of deceiving Malaysian authorities on radioactive wastes
However the Temporary Operating License approved on 7/2/2012 allows Lynas to start operations even before they present their proposed plan for comprehensive management of the solid waste – the TOL only requires them to submit the waste management plan within 10 months of starting operations!!
Ten months have passed, and a safe permanent depository has yet to be identified and agreed upon by all parties. Instead Lynas is still talking of rendering the waste “safe”. Continue reading
Australian rare earths company Lynas may lose its Malaysian operating license over the radioactive waste issue
Four Malaysian cabinet MPs (responsible for trade, science, natural resources and health) have now released a joint statement, saying the temporary licence granted to Lynas requires it to remove “all the residue” from the plant out of the country.
They also warned that if Lynas does not comply, the Government can suspend or revoke the licence and order it “to immediately cease operation”.
Malaysia orders Lynas to ship out waste http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-12-11/an-malaysia-orders-lynas-to-ship-out-waste/4422084 Dec 11, 2012 . Australian mining company Lynas and its plans to process rare earths in Pahang state have caused local communities and environmental groups to raise concerns over the management of radioactive byproduct waste
Malaysia has ordered the Australian miner Lynas Corp. to ship out all the waste from its new rare earths plant, because of environmental and health concerns. Continue reading
Russia receives first shipment of uranium from Australia
The deliveries are being made under the agreement on nuclear cooperation for peaceful purposes signed by President Vladimir Putin and then-Prime Minister John Howard in Sydney in 2007.
Russia receives first uranium shipment from Australia http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/news/136667/
December 10, 2012 PanARMENIAN.Net – Russia has received the first shipment of uranium from Australia under a 2007 bilateral nuclear cooperation agreement, a spokesman for Russian uranium enrichment concern Siberian Chemical
Combine said, according to RIA Novosti. Continue reading
Confusion about Australian company Lynas’ plans for managing radioactive wastes
Hello, didn’t Lynas say wastes to be exported? Malaysiakini Dec 10, 2012
‘Now is the time to ask the court to suspend the TOL because AELB has said that they will enforce Lynas pledge to export the waste.’
Wastes won’t be exported out of Malaysia, says Lynas
Odin: Lynas Malaysia managing director Mashal Ahmad, you have been reported to have said no residues from your plant would be exported out of Malaysia, as your company needed to abide by international conventions that prohibit the export of hazardous wastes to other countries.
This means that the residues which your plant will produce are toxic. All this while, however, we have been told that the residues would be safe to humans and the environment.
Does this not mean that your company, and those outside it but who support your operations, have been lying? Continue reading
Some Malaysians not happy with Lynas’ tax free status
Hello, didn’t Lynas say wastes to be exported? Malaysiakini Dec 10, 2012 Xabiso: Do the people know about the 12-year tax free incentive gifted to this foreign company listed in Australia? Why am I not surprise that they are keeping the toxic waste in Lynas?
I remember someone giving an assurance last time that the waste will be exported back to Australia. We are talking about the toxic waste from processing rare earth, not the raw material (if the raw material is radioactive, Australian can’t even send it to Malaysia).
Before plant operation – apa pun boleh (everything can be done). After start-up – dah tunjuk belang (show true colours). http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/216281
Malaysia as dumping ground for radioactive wastes? Lynas’ Malaysian tax holiday
Hello, didn’t Lynas say wastes to be exported? Malaysiakini Dec 10, 2012 Kgen: What cheaper production cost? What about the cost of transporting the earth from Australia to Malaysia? Most of the processes are automated so labour cost does not factor significantly in the production cost.
Does the 12-year tax holiday, lax environmental standards and an authoritarian regime which can impose its will on the people have anything to do with the choice of location?http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/216281
Hello, didn’t Lynas say wastes to be exported? Malaysiakini Dec 10, 2012 Not Confused: So, the waste from the Lynas plant cannot be exported from Malaysia because it is hazardous, as defined under the international convention.
I had refrained from commenting on this issue as I felt that too many professionals, supposedly with some integrity, had reported and clearly stated that there was no risk to any Malaysians from the operation of the plant.
However, it is now confirmed that the waste from the plant will indeed be toxic so will have to be “disposed of” in Malaysia.
This seems like Malaysia is being used as a dumping ground simply because operating costs here are less and we have a corrupt government which is presumably being paid handsomely for licensing their operations. http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/216281
Australia under pressure from USA in Trans Pacific Partnership talks
Such a clause would allow companies who believed an Australian law had harmed their ability to invest in Australia to take their dispute to an extranational body with the power to overrule local laws.
Philip Morris International is trying to use such a clause in the Australia-Hong Kong investment treaty to declare invalid the plain cigarette packaging law that came into force on December 1.
Free trade talks to avoid legal hurdle http://www.theage.com.au/business/free-trade-talks-to-avoid-legal-hurdle-20121202-2aoyt.html#ixzz2E26mKulE December 3, 2012 Peter Martin NEGOTIATIONS over what’s set to be the world’s biggest free trade agreement resume in Auckland this week, with the Australian government insisting the contentious proposal for foreign companies to sue governments will stay off the table.
But non-government observers say aspects of the proposed powers are likely to be incorporated in the words of the agreement to be refined by officials.
The Trans-Pacific Partnership will encompass 11 states from all edges of the Pacific – Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam – with Japan considering joining at a later stage.
The Australian government has said it will not be party to the agreement if it includes a so-called investor-state disputes
settlement clause, something insisted on by the US and obtained in each one of its free trade agreements apart from the one with Australia. Continue reading
Kuala Lumpur: 10,000 march for 13 days, rally against Lynas rare earths processing plant.
The rally is a culmination of a 13-day march against the plant’s opening
Kuala Lumpur: 10,000 protest rare earth plant over health concerns Environmental activist group Himpunan Hijau organized the rally against the opening of rare earth company Lynas’ new plant. Global Post,Talia Ralph November 25, 2012 early 10,000 people took to the streets in Kuala Lumpur Sunday to protest the opening of Australia-based mining company Lynas’ new rare earth plant. Continue reading
The Independent and Peaceful Australia Network (IPAN) needed, as AUSMIN locks Australia into USA militarism
why is the Australian government co-operating in United States planning for the military containment of China? There is no threat to Australia
Stirling naval base south of Perth is set to become a major base for US operations in the region although details are not yet confirmed. Some reports suggest that US nuclear submarines may be based in Stirling.
The Independent and Peaceful Australia Network (IPAN) was set up recently with the expressed aim of organising against this gathering rush by the Australian government further into an unquestioning and subservient relationship with the US and its arms corporations.
AUSMIN confirms Australia’s subservience to US military, The Guardian, Denis Doherty, 20 Nov 12,
AUSMIN, the annual talks between the Australian and US foreign and defence ministers, have come and gone for another year and the agreement reached makes depressing reading for Australians who want to live in peace and prosperity.
The AUSMIN communiqué outlines plans for the future benefit for US corporations at the expense of the people of
the Indo Pacific region. US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and US Secretary of Defence Leon Panetta and their Australian counterparts Foreign Minister Bob Carr and Defence Minister Stephen Smith met for the AUSMIN talks on November 14 in Perth. Continue reading
India secretly diverted Canadian uranium to nuclear weapons
Harper in India: bad timing, bad mood Macleans, by Erica Alini , November 7, 2012″…….. there were three key deals on the table when Harper left for India on Saturday night:
1. A few administrative arrangements needed to be worked out in order for Canada to start shipping uranium and nuclear technologies to India after the two countries signed a Nuclear Cooperation Agreement in 2010. The crux of the matter here was that, after India surreptitiously diverted uranium produced at a Canadian plant to its first nuclear bomb in 1974, Ottawa wanted to be able to closely monitor the stuff this time around. India’s position, on the other hand, was that they report to the International Atomic Energy Agency, and that should be enough to keep us satisfied. Those differences have now been overcome, the Harper government announced on Tuesday . According to Reuters, we’ve beat Australia to this —they are still looking for assurances on nuclear safeguards—but it’s not clear yet whether Ottawa has had to make significant concessions to get the Indians on board…… http://www2.macleans.ca/2012/11/07/harper-in-india-this-is-the-trip-that-was/
USA- Australia co-operation on climate change action
Australia’s Minister for Climate Change, Greg Combet, told the Carbon Expo conference in Melbourne on Friday that he was ”very pleased” with Mr Obama’s victory, and said he held already spoken on the issue with his US counterpart since the elections.
The minister has also been discussing the prospects of linking Australia’s planned market for greenhouse gas emissions with California. The biggest US state will auction its first pollution permits this week with the emissions trading scheme (ETS) to start on January 1.
Obama keen to tackle climate, The Age, November 12, 2012, Peter Hannam THE Australian government has wasted little time to sound out the newly re-elected Barack Obama over his administration’s climate change policies and the potential to work more closely together.
An issue excluded from the US presidential debates, the argument over global warming was revived when superstorm Sandy slammed into north-eastern US states a week before polling day, leaving a damage bill some expect to exceed $US50 billion ($A48 billion).
Mr Obama signalled his intention to tackle climate change in his second term during his acceptance speech in Chicago, where he underlined the issue as among his top priorities.
”We want our children to live in an America that isn’t burdened by debt; that isn’t weakened by inequality; that isn’t threatened by the destructive power of a warming planet,” he said. Continue reading
Australia’s purchase of US nuclear submarines would anger China
Buying US submarines may anger China, Financial Review 10 Nov
An Australian Coalition government move to purchase or lease up to 10 US nuclear-propelled submarines would almost certainly attract China’s ire. ….subscription only
Court decision for Lynas rare earths plant, but the legal fight will continue
The federal opposition MP for Kuantan, Fuziah Salleh, who has led protests against Lynas for over two years, says the fight is far from over
The hearing of an application for a judicial review into the granting of the licence is expected in a few months.
Malaysian court approves Lynas rare earths plant
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-11-08/an-lynas-gets-go-ahead-for-rare-earths-mining-in-malaysia/4361554 Kate Arnott, 9 Nov 12, A court in Malaysia has paved the way for an Australian company to fire up its controversial rare earths plant in eastern Malaysia. Continue reading
Australia assisting Ghana in solar energy development
Leading Australian Professor on Environment visits Ghana Accra, Nov. 6, GNA – Professor Ray Wills, Australia Clean Energy Expert and one of the top 100 Global Sustainable Energy experts is in Ghana to participate in a three-day West Africa Clean Energy and Environment Conference (WACEE) in Accra. Continue reading
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