Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) buyng into the Thorium dream?
Anything to keep the nuclear industry alive?
Australian and Czech consortium announce thorium joint venture Australian Mining – Cole Latimer – 30 Nov 11 Arrangements will be discussed with the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) which is responsible for monitoring the activity and … (Website was not available to me, – Christina Macpherson)
BHP BILLITON ABOVE THE LAW FOR ANOTHER 70 YEARS AND BEYOND
The Roxby Downs Indenture Bill today passed the South Australian Upper House. It has now passed both houses of Parliament, enshrining in law an agreement that over-rides some 21 South Australian laws, including state legislation covering radiation protection.
“Since the negotiation of the Indenture Agreement, it has been clear that the parliamentary process would simply be a rubber stamp. For example, in the Parliamentary Select Committee hearing, the opposition had the chance to question BHP for an hour, and the nature of their investigations were along the lines of concerns for the caravans that may be inconvenienced if a road was closed, never mind the tailings dams that are designed to leak,” said Nectaria Calan from Friends of the Earth Adelaide.
“Neither Labor not Liberal have shown any inclination to critically scrutinise the implications of the project, with the government bending over backwards to accommodate the mining giant. BHP wanted to recognise a historical version of the Aboriginal Heritage Act that was repealed over 20 years ago – they got it. They wanted a mining lease that spans 70 years, despite the fact that their Environmental Impact Statement only covers 40 years – they got it. They wanted the right to be granted the expanded mining lease, covering nearly 50, 000 ha as freehold, free of charge – they got it. They wanted royalties capped for 45 years – they got it,” said Ms. Calan.
The scope of the Indenture Agreement extends far beyond the 40 years covered in the Environmental Impact Statement.
“It’s a strange state of affairs to have an Environmental Impact Statement that only covers 40 years, a mining lease granted for 70 years, and an indenture agreement that creates the right for future mining leases that will not expire until the last of the extended mining leases have expired. The intention appears to be to avoid any further Parliamentary scrutiny at all cost,” continued Ms. Calan.
Australian company SILEX’s laser uranium enrichment technology – risks of nuclear weapons proliferation
many of the good things GE is using to make a case about Silex—less use of resources and electricity and increased efficiency—are actually negatives that make it easier for rogue states to hide clandestine plants…..methods for the production and use of nuclear materials that would be more difficult to detect,” the report states
New Uranium Enrichment Technology Alarms Aviation Week, By Kristin Majcher Washington 23 Nov 11 General Electric says it has successfully tested a faster, cheaper way to produce nuclear reactor fuel, and is planning to commercialize the technology by building a facility in Wilmington, N.C. While the prospect of saving resources to generate energy at a lower price sounds like a breakthrough, scientists are concerned that the top-secret method of enrichment that GE is using will indirectly elevate proliferation risks around the world, thus inspiring rogue states to develop their own laser enrichment facilities for nuclear
weapons.
The enrichment technology is the Separation of Isotopes by Laser Excitation (Silex). It was developed by Silex of Australia in 1992. The technology company USEC funded early research on Silex, but abandoned it in favor of focusing on centrifuge enrichment. In 2006, GE signed an exclusive agreement to commercialize and license the technology and spearhead further research and development. Continue reading
Australia’s uranium industry in Death Valley – despite suggested sales to India
Uranium bombs despite India move, BY: ROBIN BROMBY , The Australian, November 21, 2011, YOU couldn’t even call it a boomlet. It was more like a ripple on a lake, and lasted about as long. Julia Gillard’s volte-face on selling uranium to India caused a mild stir among the uranium stocks, but the sector is still doing a passable imitation of Death Valley. A few stocks bounced but the present price levels are woeful. Even the spot price rising $US4/lb was of little help; nor does the general bear market…..
Over the 12 months to November 15, Energy & Minerals Australia (EMA) was off 48 per cent, Toro Energy (TOE) down 50 per cent and, despite its well-advanced project in Western Australia, last traded at just 8.6c, while Bannerman Resources (BMN) was down 58 per cent.
There was minimal interest last week even in Uranium Equities (UEQ), which has produced grades up to an extraordinary 6.71 per cent at its Nabarlek project in the Northern Territory. Its 6c price remained unchanged. UEQ’s ground is just 10km from the high-grade Nabarlek mine, which closed in 1989…….
And the India news, should it go through the ALP conference, is not that big a deal anyway. There are plenty of countries supplying the Indians with uranium and will fight to keep their shares and get more of any additional business.
Labor senator speaks out on nuclear weapons danger of Australia selling uranium to India
India possesses nuclear weapons but is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and current Labor policy prohibits selling uranium to any country that is not a signatory. But Senator Gavin Marshall says there is no doubt it will be used directly in India’s nuclear weapons program or to free up domestic supplies.
“Either way, Australian uranium assists in a nuclear arms race in that part of the world,” he said. “I don’t think that’s a responsible thing for this government to do.” He also does not buy the Prime Minister’s argument it would be good for jobs and disputes it would reduce poverty…..
Senator Marshall says those fighting the policy shift could still win the argument. The left convenor will meet with his other faction colleagues tomorrow. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-11-19/labor-left-fears-uranium-backflip-will-fuel-arms-race/3681338/?site=newcastle
Australia will now be expected to sell uranium to Pakistan
Like India, Pakistan is a nuclear armed state that refuses to sign the NPT. There is no doubt the Islamabad will be keeping a close eye Canberra and on Darling Harbour come Labor’s National Conference in December.
Inevitably, if Labor moves to sell uranium to India then Pakistan will make a political and diplomatic point of being the next cab in the radioactive rank.
If Australia sells uranium to India, will Pakistan be next?, November 18, 2011 Crikey , Dave Sweeney Uranium is both common and controversial in resource rich Australia. It is tricky stuff as it can be used to produce electricity or to fuel nuclear bombs. And India has both…….
A recent high level UN report makes the nuclear power and weapons connection clear and has a special relevance against the current backdrop of pro-sales positioning.
In the shadow of the continuing Fukushima nuclear crisis the September 2011 UN report plainly states: “Nuclear science and technology can also be used to develop nuclear weapons. Compliance with international legal instruments, such as the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, other bilateral and multilateral non-proliferation agreements and safeguards agreements with the IAEA, is therefore an essential element of the responsible use of nuclear power.”
Australia, as a significant global uranium supplier, has a responsibility to act responsibly. Different rules should apply to uranium supply than to other less destructive and divisive exports. Continue reading
Australia has four options on nuclear disarmament and uranium sales
Promises and U-turns of the nuclear kind, The Drum, Jim Green, 19 Nov 11“…..What steps could Australia take to extricate us from the current mess – the South Asian nuclear arms race, and the broader problem of nuclear proliferation?
Option #1 is to leave uranium in the ground. It’s not as radical an idea as it might sound. Uranium accounts for a paltry 0.3 per cent of national export revenue and 0.03 per cent of Australian jobs. Few would notice if the industry vanished and still fewer would miss it.
Option #2 is to apply current government policy – restricting supply to countries that have signed the NPT. A variation of that option would be to restrict supply to NPT signatories that are serious about their non-proliferation and disarmament obligations – that would require a rethink of supply to, for example, the US and China since they have not ratified the CTBT. Continue reading
More bad news for Australian uranium companies, Toro and Paladin
Oz Minerals pulls out of Toro uranium JV,9 News, 19 Nov 11 OZ Minerals has pulled out of a uranium exploration
joint venture with Toro Energy in South Australia, saying no economic uranium has yet been found at the Mt Woods project.
The Toro board has accepted a $3.75 million cash offer from OZ Minerals as consideration for the termination, Toro said in astatement on Friday. “No potentially economic uranium results have been reported from the
Mt Woods project,” Toro said…. Shares in Toro were down 3.41 per cent at 8.5 cents at 1540 AEDT while
OZ Mineral shares were 1.89 per cent weaker, compared to losses in the broader market of about 1.8 per cent.
http://finance.ninemsn.com.au/newsbusiness/aap/8376270/oz-minerals-pulls-out-of-toro-uranium-jv
BHP chief Marius Kloppers tries to make out that Olympic Dam is not a uranium mine
Further delays to force BHP’s hand, BY:MATT CHAMBERS, The Australian November 18, 2011, BHP Billiton chief executive Marius Kloppers has warned that further regulatory delays on the $20 billion-plus Olympic Dam copper, gold and uranium expansion could mean the company looks at other options for its huge cashflows.
BHP’s Annual General Meeting dominated by questions, angry Aboriginals and other speakers
Road ahead looks uncertain for BHP, Canberra Times, BY GREG ROBERTS,18 Nov, 2011 “……Chief executive Marius Kloppers said yesterday businesses were cutting back on inventory and taking fewer risks as liquidity and trade financing dried up.
Uranium should be taxed, too, say the Australian Greens
Greens want Mining Resources Rent Tax on uranium, The West 18 Nov 11, The Australian Greens will seek to broaden the minerals resource rent tax to cover uranium.
As the legislation for the tax is due to be debated in the House of Representatives next week, Greens leader Bob Brown said he was in talks with his party colleagues on moving an amendment to include not just coal and iron ore but uranium.
Senator Brown told reporters in Canberra the decision came after Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced she would seek approval of the Labor national conference to back the sale of uranium to India.
Labor has long opposed India being able to buy Australian uranium because it is not a signatory to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty…..
“It seems logical to me, in an age where health care and public education are short of funds right around this country, should we not be taxing the largely foreign ownership of our uranium mines?” Senator Brown said.
“We will be looking at adding that amendment in the light of the huge change that we are seeing not just in the promotion of uranium to India by Prime Minister Julia Gillard but with the uranium prices going up.”
Senator Brown said he had no doubt that Australian uranium “is going into nuclear weapons or making it possible for other uranium to go into nuclear weapons in some of the most volatile circumstances around the world”. He said it remained Greens policy to stop all uranium exports. http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/business/a/-/business/11757119/greens-want-mrrt-on-uranium/
Australia: Northern Territory Government tries to shut down protest against uranium transport
Protesters air uranium transport fears, ABC News, 17 Nov 11 The Northern Territory Government has tried to shut down a protest in Alice Springs. People were meeting to protest about the increased uranium that will pass through the town if the South Australian Olympic Dam is expanded.
The protest comes as dam developers BHP Billiton holds its annual general meeting in Melbourne today. Protester Lauren Mellor says she feels people do not know about the extra uranium that will be travelling through the town.
“We’re protesting here today for the specific reason of the transport risks to people who are along this rail line that the radioactive ore will be carried on up to Darwin,” she said.”So here in Alice Springs we’re at the intersection where this radioactive ore, two trains a day will be coming through our town and putting the lives of people here at risk and also the environment in Alice Springs.” http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-11-17/protesters-air-uranium-transport-fears/3677478
Shareholders grill BHP about environmental risks of planned new mega uranium mine at Olympic Dam
BHP Billiton AGM asked about mining radiation risk , ABC News, 17 Nov 11 The environmental credentials of the planned Olympic Dam mine expansion in outback South Australia have been questioned by some shareholders at BHP Billiton’s annual general meeting in Melbourne.
Dr Jenny Grounds from the Medical Association for the Prevention of War has questioned the BHP Billiton board about monitoring radiation exposure levels for Olympic Dam workers. She has also raised the issue of disposal of radioactive tailings by the company “with its open cut mine and the surface tailings piles and the potential for dispersion by dust storms and groundwater retention.”….
Water demands The board also was asked about water demands for the proposed expansion. A desalination plant will be built on upper Spencer Gulf near Whyalla to supply water for the huge mining expansion. Anne Kennedy from the Great Artesian Basin Protection Group says it will produce a surplus of 80 million litres of water daily.
She asked if it would replace water now being drawn from the basin. “To allocate half of that surplus would enable [the company] to return that same quantity of water to the Great Artesian Basin,” she told the meeting…. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-11-17/bhp-billiton-agm-environment-olympic-dam/3677110?section=sa
Julia Gillard’s new line on uranium to India causes quite a political mess
the discomfort in some quarters about the plan was underlined yesterday when India test-fired a long-range missile, which officials said was capable of carrying a one-tonne nuclear warhead deep inside China.
Gillard’s uranium backlash The Age, Michelle Grattan, Katharine Murphy and John Watson November 16,
2011 PRIME Minister Julia Gillard’s push to sell uranium to India has triggered a fight with her party’s Left, attracted disquiet from Pakistan and infuriated Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd, who was not consulted about the change. Tensions between Ms Gillard and Mr Rudd are likely to escalate after the snub, which was made worse by Mr Rudd being in India when she made the move. Continue reading
Biggest mining companies the beneficiaries of uranium sales to India
Gillard’s uranium backflip ‘to appease big miners’, WA Today, 16 Nov 11, Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s decision to push for uranium exportation to India may be the product of a deal struck with the big miners over the MRRT, Fortescue Metals Group chief executive Neville Power speculated yesterday.
“It’s no coincidence I guess that BHP will be the largest beneficiary of exporting uranium so maybe the deal from the MRRT continues and what we’re seeing is just payback for the support of the MRRT,” Mr Power said. Ms Gillard yesterday revealed she would lobby the Australian Labor Party to change its stance on exportation of uranium to India, a country who is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Mr Power said BHP Billiton’s Olympic Dam copper and uranium mine in South Australia stood to gain the most if the growing Indian market was opened up. “It is remarkable that Xstrata, BHP and Rio Tinto have not said a thing about the MRRT…..
The WA Labor Party has said it will maintain its blanket ban on uranium mining.…
http://www.watoday.com.au/business/gillards-uranium-backflip-to-appease-big-miners-20111116-1nhze.html#ixzz1durZFCcq
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