Group items tagged

The Energy Department's Carlsbad Field Office has reached an agreement to sell salt from the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in Carlsbad, N.M., to a Hereford company that will use it as a livestock feed supplement. In 2008, Washington TRU Solutions issued a request for interest in salt tailings that have accumulated on the surface at the WIPP site since mining began in the 1970s. Through the years, uncontaminated salt has been mined from the WIPP Plant, which stores radioactive waste in rooms mined from ancient salt formations 2,150 feet below the surface, according to information from the Department of Energy. WIPP, which began waste-disposal operations in 1999, is 26 miles outside Carlsbad. Hereford-based Magnum Minerals, which is owned and operated by Tim and Keith Ann Gearn and sons Jason and Dustin Gearn, specializes in providing minerals for the livestock industry. DOE officials said the project will save taxpayers money and benefit private industry. The salt tailings normally would be disposed of in a landfill. Magnum Minerals will pay the government about $600,00 for the contract, which could have cost the government $4.5 million in disposal costs, said Tim Gearn, president of Magnum Minerals.

The Energy Department's Carlsbad Field Office has reached an agreement to sell salt from the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in Carlsbad, N.M., to a Hereford company that will use it as a livestock feed supplement. In 2008, Washington TRU Solutions issued a request for interest in salt tailings that have accumulated on the surface at the WIPP site since mining began in the 1970s. Through the years, uncontaminated salt has been mined from the WIPP Plant, which stores radioactive waste in rooms mined from ancient salt formations 2,150 feet below the surface, according to information from the Department of Energy. WIPP, which began waste-disposal operations in 1999, is 26 miles outside Carlsbad. Hereford-based Magnum Minerals, which is owned and operated by Tim and Keith Ann Gearn and sons Jason and Dustin Gearn, specializes in providing minerals for the livestock industry. DOE officials said the project will save taxpayers money and benefit private industry. The salt tailings normally would be disposed of in a landfill. Magnum Minerals will pay the government about $600,00 for the contract, which could have cost the government $4.5 million in disposal costs, said Tim Gearn, president of Magnum Minerals.

The name Poison Canyon offers a hint of what's faced by those trying to clean up abandoned uranium mines in the West. The area north of the village of Milan contains some of the 259 abandoned uranium sites in New Mexico that need cleanup. State officials are pressuring the federal government to direct more money to those areas because of their unique hazard of radioactivity. "In this case, a pile of rocks is more than just a pile of rocks," said New Mexico Mining and Minerals Division Director Bill Brancard. There are hundreds of thousands of safety issues at abandoned hardrock mines in 13 western states, according to the Government Accountability Office. Thousands of sites, many dating to the 19th century, also are considered environmentally damaged.

The name Poison Canyon offers a hint of what's faced by those trying to clean up abandoned uranium mines in the West. The area north of the village of Milan contains some of the 259 abandoned uranium sites in New Mexico that need cleanup. State officials are pressuring the federal government to direct more money to those areas because of their unique hazard of radioactivity. "In this case, a pile of rocks is more than just a pile of rocks," said New Mexico Mining and Minerals Division Director Bill Brancard. There are hundreds of thousands of safety issues at abandoned hardrock mines in 13 western states, according to the Government Accountability Office. Thousands of sites, many dating to the 19th century, also are considered environmentally damaged.

The name Poison Canyon offers a hint of what's faced by those trying to clean up abandoned uranium mines in the West. The area north of the village of Milan contains some of the 259 abandoned uranium sites in New Mexico that need cleanup. State officials are pressuring the federal government to direct more money to those areas because of their unique hazard of radioactivity. "In this case, a pile of rocks is more than just a pile of rocks," said New Mexico Mining and Minerals Division Director Bill Brancard. There are hundreds of thousands of safety issues at abandoned hardrock mines in 13 western states, according to the Government Accountability Office. Thousands of sites, many dating to the 19th century, also are considered environmentally damaged.

The Centre on Friday decided to revise the royalty rates to be paid to states for streamlining the mining of uranium, a strategic and scarce mineral. The states would now be paid royalty on uranium mining on an ad valorem basis, equivalent to two per cent of compensation received by Uranium Corporation of India Ltd (UCIL). The decision to revise the royalty rates for uranium was taken by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh. While the government is working on a proposal for revising royalty rates for all minerals, a considered decision has been taken to enhance the royalty rates of uranium immediately, keeping the fact in mind that uranium is a strategic mineral whose mining is restricted to the public sector, Minister for Science and Technology Dr Kapil Sibal said.

A mineral Queensland Health is testing for radioactivity on North Stradbroke Island has also been found at the planned site of new Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) Brisbane studios. On July 18, Queensland Health agreed to test radioactivity levels on the Moreton Bay island after residents voiced concerns about monazite, a naturally occurring phosphate mineral that contains radioactive thorium.

Uranium Resources, Inc. (NASDAQ: URRE) (URI) announced today that it has terminated the agreement for the acquisition of certain assets in New Mexico from NZ Uranium, LLC because of the existence of title issues that were not resolved. The Company had previously announced that it had entered into an agreement to acquire the properties subject to the satisfaction of closing conditions, including a title review. The properties were believed to contain about 35 million pounds of uranium mineralized material. Paul K. Willmott, Chairman of the Board, commented, "It is unfortunate that this is the result, but we determined that it would be imprudent to proceed any further." About Uranium Resources, Inc. Uranium Resources Inc. explores for, develops and mines uranium. Since its incorporation in 1977, URI has produced over 8 million pounds of uranium by in-situ recovery (ISR) methods in the state of Texas where the Company currently has ISR mining projects. URI has 183,000 acres of uranium mineral holdings, 101.4 million pounds of in-place mineralized uranium material in New Mexico and an NRC license to produce up to 3 million pounds of uranium. The Company acquired these properties over the past 20 years along with an extensive information database of historic mining logs and analysis.

A Canadian company hoping to open a uranium mine in northern Colorado has obtained options for up to 3,585 more acres, plus access to minerals it owns under the land. Powertech Uranium Corp. said Wednesday that the option agreements are for land on the northern edge of its Centennial Project in Weld County, plus associated water, mineral and lease interests. Chief Financial Officer Thomas Doyle declined to release financial details of the agreements. Landowners M.J. Diehl & Sons Inc., Howard Diehl and Donna Diehl, and Thomas Varra and Dianna Varra declined to comment. Powertech says its gross mineral rights at the project are now 9,615 acres, up from 7,320 acres. It says its surface use area rose to 7,262 acres from 3,677 acres.

Although still in experimental infancy, Russian scientists reported in 2008 the discovery of a mineral that absorbs radiation from liquid nuclear waste. They hope to clone the mineral as only a scant amount has been found in nature.

Although still in experimental infancy, Russian scientists reported in 2008 the discovery of a mineral that absorbs radiation from liquid nuclear waste. They hope to clone the mineral as only a scant amount has been found in nature.

Indigenous people from across North America will meet in Acoma in late October to launch a campaign to end recent efforts to resume uranium mining, which is seen as a threat to Indian lands in several Native locations across the country. * The Seventh Indigenous Uranium Forum was established in 1987 with conferences on the environmental and health effects of uranium development in the Grants Mineral Belt. Since its inception the forum has developed as a vehicle for strategy development and coordination of communities along the lifeline of nuclear power, from uranium mining in Grants to nuclear waste storage at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. A statement from the forum reads, "The 7th Southwest Indigenous Uranium Forum will focus on the recent onslaught of exploratory measures to mine and mill uranium in the Grants Mineral Belt. Due to recent price fluctuations of uranium on the world market and U.S. policy still emphasizing nuclear power as an answer to global warming and climate change, we will inform and educate participants of local, national and international nuclear issues impacting Indigenous people." There will also be presentations on health issues affecting both mining and non-mining populations in the affected communities.

Indigenous people from across North America will meet in Acoma in late October to launch a campaign to end recent efforts to resume uranium mining, which is seen as a threat to Indian lands in several Native locations across the country. * The Seventh Indigenous Uranium Forum was established in 1987 with conferences on the environmental and health effects of uranium development in the Grants Mineral Belt. Since its inception the forum has developed as a vehicle for strategy development and coordination of communities along the lifeline of nuclear power, from uranium mining in Grants to nuclear waste storage at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. A statement from the forum reads, "The 7th Southwest Indigenous Uranium Forum will focus on the recent onslaught of exploratory measures to mine and mill uranium in the Grants Mineral Belt. Due to recent price fluctuations of uranium on the world market and U.S. policy still emphasizing nuclear power as an answer to global warming and climate change, we will inform and educate participants of local, national and international nuclear issues impacting Indigenous people." There will also be presentations on health issues affecting both mining and non-mining populations in the affected communities.

Washington » A 137-year-old exemption that allows companies to extract hard-rock minerals from public lands without paying royalties could cost the nation $1.6 billion during the next decade, says a new report by the Pew Campaign for Responsible Mining. To reverse that exemption, House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., introduced legislation Tuesday that would treat the mineral-extraction companies the same as coal, oil and gas industries, which pay a percentage royalty for using public lands. "Given our current economic crisis and the empty state of our national treasury, it is ludicrous to be allowing this outmoded law to continue to exempt these lucrative mining activities from paying a fair return to the American people," Rahall said in a statement.

Two groups and an individual have filed nomination petitions with the South Dakota Department of Environment and Natural Resources to have lands west of Edgemont declared special, exceptional, critical or unique. The petitions were filed Dec. 28 in Pierre. Oglala Sioux tribal member Debra White Plume, Defenders of the Black Hills and the Oglala Sioux Tribe have all filed the petitions with the DENR's Minerals and Mining program to ask that the determinations be made. The lands are within an area that has been leased by Powertech Uranium for exploration and possible mining of the mineral.

IN A DINE CREATION STORY, the people were given a choice of two yellow powders. They chose the yellow dust of corn pollen, and were instructed to leave the other yellow powder-uranium-in the soil and never to dig it up. If it were taken from the ground, they were told, a great evil would come. The evil came. Over one thousand uranium mines gouged the earth in the Dine Bikeyah, the land of the Navajo, during a thirty-year period beginning in the 1950s. It was the lethal nature of uranium mining that led the industry to the isolated lands of Native America. By the mid-1970s, there were 380 uranium leases on native land and only 4 on public or acquired lands. At that time, the industry and government were fully aware of the health impacts of uranium mining on workers, their families, and the land upon which their descendants would come to live. Unfortunately, few Navajo uranium miners were told of the risks. In the 1960s, the Department of Labor even provided the Kerr-McGee Corporation with support for hiring Navajo uranium miners, who were paid $1.62 an hour to work underground in the mine shafts with little or no ventilation.

About 175 people showed up Thursday night in Grants to the public hearing on the proposed exploratory drilling project in Marquez Canyon by Neutron Energy, Inc. The crowd was overwhelmingly in support of the project and a revival of the uranium mining industry. The meeting was part of the permitting requirements of the New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department, Mining and Minerals Division.

South Africa would implement interventions with regard to the export of uranium to ensure that the country retained an adequate supply for its own electricity-generation needs, the Department of Minerals and Energy's (DME's) director of nuclear non-proliferation Elsie Monale asserted on Wednesday. Speaking at the Institute for International Research's Nuclear & Uranium Summit in Johannesburg, Monale stated that South Africa and Southern Africa had an abundance of uranium and that the country should benefit from its minerals.

The potential for uranium contamination in the Tallahassee area is unclear in the area of Black Range Minerals test drilling sites. Australia-based Black Range Minerals received permission in June from Fremont County commissioners to resume exploration for uranium on Taylor Ranch properties off County Road 2 northwest of Canon City. The company wants to determine if it would be economically viable to mine the ore. Black Range previously started exploring for uranium on the ranch in 2007, but stopped after being told it needed a county permit for exploration.

Russia's proven uranium reserves have increased 275% to 545,000 metric tons since 2006, the natural resources minister said on Tuesday. Yury Trutnev attended a meeting with civilian nuclear chief Sergei Kiriyenko to discuss joint measures that the ministry, mineral resources regulator Rosnedra and state nuclear power corporation Rosatom are taking to develop Russia's uranium deposits. Vadim Zhivov, head of Atomredmetzoloto (ARMZ), Russia's leading uranium miner, said 3,841 tons of uranium is planned to be produced this year, a 20% increase on 2006.

Zambia has enacted a law for mining, storage and export of uranium which bars the diversion of the mineral for use in making nuclear weapons or devices, mines minister Kalombo Mwansa said on Monday. Mwansa said he had signed a law to pave the way for uranium mining in the country following the discovery of huge uranium deposits in several parts of the mineral-rich southern Africa country.

Tuffy Ruth is one of Mesquite's originals. His dad's family has been here since the beginning. He has ancestors that fought in the Revolutionary and Civil Wars. His mother was an original settler in St. George. She too was a downwinder who died of leukemia. Tuffy worked at the Nevada Test Site from 1961 to 1993 as a miner. The men that prepared the tunnels for the underground tests and worked on Yucca Mountain tunnels are all miners.

Government plans to send the highly-radioactive spent fuel rods stored at the Koeberg nuclear power station overseas for reprocessing, Parliament's minerals and energy portfolio committee heard on Wednesday. This was a short-term solution to disposing of it, in terms of policy approved by Cabinet "but not announced yet", minerals and energy department nuclear safety director Schalk de Waal told MPs.

Thursday, July 3, 2008 2:18 PM MDT The Mining and Minerals Division of the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department has awarded a contract to Golder Associates to initiate cleanup work at abandoned uranium mines in New Mexico. This project will involve a field assessment of more than a dozen abandoned uranium mines northwest of Grants followed by the development and implementation of plans for the cleanup of these sites.

The town of Ault joined the long list of opposition against a proposed uranium mine Tuesday. At it's meeting Tuesday, Ault's town board passed a resolution opposing any uranium mining in northern Colorado. Powertech Uranium Corp., a Canadian-based company, owns the mineral rights to more than 5,700 acres of land in Weld County near Nunn and wants to mine for the mineral. Ault Mayor Brad Bayne said the board heard presentations Tuesday from Powertech and Coloradans Against Resource Destruction -- a group that opposes uranium mining in the area.