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"The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday a decision about whether Powertech USA will be permitted to conduct an aquifer pump test for its proposed Centennial Project uranium mine northeast of Fort Collins will be announced by mid-April. If approved, Powertech will be allowed to test the feasibility of in situ leach mining for uranium at the Centennial Project site. The test could help regulators find answers to questions about how the underlying aquifer works and how any contamination from the mine could move through it and affect groundwater elsewhere. Powertech's in situ leach mining method would pump a baking-soda-like fluid into the ground, which would loosen uranium from the underground rock formation, then pump the fluid back out of the ground, taking the uranium with it. The proposed pump test would allow Powertech to pump water out of the uranium-containing aquifer, store it and reinject it. The mining could have the greatest impact on the Laramie-Fox Hills aquifer, which many surrounding landowners have tapped for their well water. "

Uranium, the silvery-white mineral that powers nuclear reactors, is capturing growing attention amid burgeoning demand for power from emerging nations and a scramble to curtail carbon emissions. Here are some details about the uranium enrichment process: * WHAT IT MEANS: -- Enrichment is a process of increasing the proportion of fissile isotope found in uranium ore (represented by the symbol 'U') to make it usable as nuclear fuel or the compressed, explosive core of nuclear weapons. * WHY URANIUM MUST BE ENRICHED:

Uranium, the silvery-white mineral that powers nuclear reactors, is capturing growing attention amid burgeoning demand for power from emerging nations and a scramble to curtail carbon emissions. Here are some details about the uranium enrichment process: * WHAT IT MEANS: -- Enrichment is a process of increasing the proportion of fissile isotope found in uranium ore (represented by the symbol 'U') to make it usable as nuclear fuel or the compressed, explosive core of nuclear weapons. * WHY URANIUM MUST BE ENRICHED:

MONTREAL ­ Quebec's Liberal government must stop uranium exploration near Sept Îles and declare a moratorium on uranium mining activities across the province to avoid the mass resignation of 20 doctors in the North Shore town, a Sept Îles doctor said Friday. "I want to work in a place where the government listens to citizens and where medical opinions are respected," said Bruno Imbeault, a pulmonologist at the Centre Hospitalier et des Services Sociaux de Sept Îles.

MONTREAL ­ Quebec's Liberal government must stop uranium exploration near Sept Îles and declare a moratorium on uranium mining activities across the province to avoid the mass resignation of 20 doctors in the North Shore town, a Sept Îles doctor said Friday. "I want to work in a place where the government listens to citizens and where medical opinions are respected," said Bruno Imbeault, a pulmonologist at the Centre Hospitalier et des Services Sociaux de Sept Îles.

MONTREAL ­ Quebec's Liberal government must stop uranium exploration near Sept Îles and declare a moratorium on uranium mining activities across the province to avoid the mass resignation of 20 doctors in the North Shore town, a Sept Îles doctor said Friday. "I want to work in a place where the government listens to citizens and where medical opinions are respected," said Bruno Imbeault, a pulmonologist at the Centre Hospitalier et des Services Sociaux de Sept Îles.

"New Mexico's House delegation has identified a potential way to free up funds for cleaning up abandoned uranium mine sites in New Mexico. Congressmen Harry Teague, Ben Ray Luján, and Martin Heinrich introduced legislation Friday that would make available Surface Mine and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) funds that currently can't be used for uranium mine remediation until the state has certified that all coal remediation has been completed. The measure could bring $14.5 million to help clean up 137 uranium sites across the site. In a statement, the three explained why freeing up the funds is important. "Cleaning up the legacy of the uranium mines and mills is something we owe to our land, our people, and our water," said Harry Teague, who represents all of Cibola county and part of McKinley County where many of the sites in need of remediation are located. "Making these funds available for uranium site remediation would create jobs in areas where people need to be put back to work, and we would be able to do it using existing funds.""

"A leading academic predicts that global ( demand for mined uranium will rise ( at least fourfold over the next 30 years, driven by rising electricity demand and scaling back on fossil fuel dependence. Addressing the first day of the Paydirt 2010 Australian Uranium Conference, Professor Barry Brook, who holds the Sir Hubert Wilkins Chair of Climate Change at the University of Adelaide, said that, should the contributing factors be as acute as predicted, the con-(tinuing surge in demand for uranium would be extended by a further 20 years. "Despite rapid advances in more-efficient Generation 4 reactors that can consume all the waste and depleted uranium from thermal reactors, the continuing growth in these thermal reactors would ensure a steady (demand for mined uranium that would continue for many decades.""

"Louisiana Energy Services and International Isotopes Inc. have agreed International Isotopes will provide uranium deconversion services for LES' National Enrichment Facility, which will produce enriched uranium for commercial nuclear power plants. The $3 billion enrichment facility also will produce tons of depleted uranium tails each year, which Idaho Falls, Idaho-based International Isotopes will use in a uranium deconversion and fluorine extraction processing facility. The contract allows International Isotopes to take no more than 25 percent of the depleted uranium tails. LES does not consider them waste and plans to recycle much of the material in the future for more enriched uranium. International Isotopes expects to break ground next year west of Hobbs. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is reviewing the Idaho company's plan."

"Environmentalists and local politicians Friday cheered a Colorado Division of Reclamation Mining and Safety order late Thursday directing Denver-based Cotter Corp. to begin curtailing drinking water contamination from an inactive Jefferson County uranium mine this summer. Uranium pollution revealed to be more than 13 times state standards was contaminating Ralston Creek, and the state rejected a cleanup plan proposed by Cotter, which owns the Cotter Mill uranium processing facility near Canon City and several uranium mines around the state. The mining division required Cotter to begin water treatment at its Schwartzwalder uranium mine west of Arvada by July 31. "The mining division took bold and decisive action to protect our drinking water," Jefferson County Commissioner Kathy Hartman said in a release. "I am pleased to see immediate action to protect Ralston Reservoir.""

"Uranium Resources, Inc. announced today that the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit has denied a petition for a rehearing or en banc review of the court's previous decision that upheld, in all respects, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) original decision to grant URI a license to conduct in-situ recovery (ISR) uranium mining in McKinley County, New Mexico. On March 8, 2010, the Tenth Circuit denied the original petition by several parties opposed to uranium mining for review of URI's NRC license, which the Commission issued to Hydro Resources, Inc. (HRI), Uranium Resources' wholly-owned subsidiary, in 1998. One of the opposed parties, The Eastern Navajo Dine Against Uranium Mining, subsequently filed a petition requesting a rehearing or en banc review of the March 8 decision. In a May 18, 2010, order, the court denied the rehearing request and indicated that no judges of the court acted on the request for an en banc review. The petitioners now have 90 days from May 18, 2010 to file a petition for writ of certiorari in the United States Supreme Court requesting that Court's review of the Tenth Circuit's decision."

Equinox Minerals is delaying construction of a uranium processing plant at its Lumwana copper-uranium mine in Zambia, due to low uranium prices and difficulty raising financing, the Canadian company said on Wednesday. Equinox began copper production at Lumwana -- considered Africa's largest open-pit copper mine -- in December, and plans to eventually produce uranium to use as a cost offset. The company said it expects to produce 170,000 tonnes of copper concentrate at a cost of $1.15 a pound in 2009, which is in line with past estimates. But it said it will have to wait to move ahead on the uranium plant, which had been expected to start operations in 2010.

In a move which could bring cheer to the country's nuclear establishment grappling with shortage of uranium, the Meghalaya government has said it has no problem in mining for the mineral in the state provided the Centre takes care of health and environmental hazards resulting from radioactive emission from mines. "Our main concern is health hazards to the people which may arise due to the uranium mining. If the Centre takes care of that, we have no problem in allowing uranium mining in our state," Meghalaya Chief Minister Donkupar Roy told PTI. According to an estimate of Uranium Corporation of India Limited, there could be 3,75,000 tonnes of uranium deposits in West Khasi Hill district of Meghalaya.

Cameco Corp., the world's largest uranium producer, is suspending uranium-processing temporarily at a plant in Canada because of a dispute over supplies of hydrofluoric acid used in the production of nuclear fuel. Output of uranium hexafluoride at its Port Hope, Ontario, plant will be halted until the second half of next year because of "unreliable and expensive deliveries" of hydrofluoric acid, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan-based Cameco said today in a statement. The acid is used in uranium oxide's conversion into uranium hexafluoride, or UF6, a critical step in the fuel-making process.

The leader of a local group opposing uranium mining in Pittsylvania County disputed several claims made by mining supporters during a forum Thursday night in Danville. Gregg Vickrey, of Southside Concerned Citizens, took statements made by supporters of uranium and held them up to scrutiny for about 60 attendees at the Stratford Inn Conference Center. Uranium mining has been banned in Virginia since the early 1980s, but Virginia Uranium Inc. seeks to mine and mill a uranium deposit at Coles Hill about six miles northeast of Chatham.

The Ottawa Coalition Against Mining Uranium (OCAMU) is an Ottawa-based community association. Our mission is as follows: We are a group of Ottawa citizens acting to ensure that Ottawa's water, air and surrounding ecosystem remain free of the byproducts of uranium mining. Uranium mining would poison these basic elements irreversibly. Our goal is to raise awareness and request a moratorium on uranium mineral prospecting, exploration, and mining in the Ottawa watershed. We call on our local political representatives to fulfill their responsibility of ensuring a healthy Ottawa.

Local officials and citizens from Goliad County got some encouragement Wednesday in their fight against uranium mining over a south Texas aquifer. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality voted to allow a contested case hearing on an application by Uranium Energy Corporation to mine uranium just north of the historic mission town of Goliad. No uranium mining has occurred before in this agricultural area. "This has been such a long, long haul and it's not over yet," said local landowner Lu Ann Duderstadt, who lives near the area targeted for uranium mining. "I feel like we have a chance here and we're still going to carry this out until the end."

The U.S. government spent billions and billions of dollars (OK, I know that doesn't sound like much these days) enriching uranium for the nation's arsenal of nuclear weapons, and so where does the money go as the Dept. of Energy carries out plans to downblend the surplus stocks of bomb-grade stuff and otherwise divest itself of uranium supplies? Well, that kind of depends. In the DOE report, "Excess Uranium Inventory Management Plan," which was released in December, there's an appendix that deals with legal aspects of uranium sales and the money trail.

The Nunn town board has passed a resolution opposing a planned uranium mine near the northern Colorado town. The board voted 4-2 Thursday for the measure. One trustee abstained. The resolution can't prevent Powertech Uranium Corp. from building its mine. But the mine's opponents hope it will affect state decisions on the project. The Canadian company has proposed a $20 million uranium mine about 70 miles north of Denver. It has bought mineral rights and applied for permits. Powertech plans to use a process called in-situ mining, which involves pumping treated water into uranium-laced deposits to dissolve the mineral so the uranium can be pumped to the surface.

The former head of Kazatomprom, Kazakhstan's state-run nuclear energy company, was accused of embezzling state shares in uranium deposits, including one co- owned by Canada's Uranium One Inc. Uranium One fell the most in almost nine years on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Mukhtar Dzhakishev, who was arrested earlier this week, abused his position as Kazatomprom chief and embezzled state shares in "large uranium deposits" by "transferring" them to offshore companies, Kazakhstan's National Security Committee said today on its Web site. On Dzhakishev's orders, Kazatomprom in 2005 sold a 30 percent stake in TOO Kyzylkum, a joint venture with Uranium One's UrAsia London Limited unit, for 15.6 million tenge (about $103,000), the committee said. "Proof of illegal transfers of mining rights for other deposits was also uncovered," it said. Dzhakishev's mobile phone was not in service when called by Bloomberg News. Kazatomprom spokesman Sergei Nasyrov declined to comment on the report.

Kazakhstan's security service said on Wednesday some of the country's uranium fields had been sold illegally to foreign firms by Kazakh state uranium company Kazatomprom, in a move certain to alarm investors. [ID:nLR384428] Below is the list of key Kazakh uranium joint ventures in which foreign companies have stakes. KYZYLKUM Kyzylkum operates Khorasan-1, Kazakhstan's largest uranium mine with reserves of more than 80,000 tonnes. Canada's Uranium One (UUU.TO) owns 30 percent in its operating company Kyzylkum. A consortium of Japanese firms including Toshiba Corporation (6502.T), TEPCO (9501.T), Chubu Electric (9502.T), Tohoku Electric (9506.T), Kyushu Electric (9508.T) and Marubeni Corporation (8002.T) owns a 40 percent stake. The rest belongs to Kazatomprom.

Several proposed uranium mining projects in Wyoming and across the West will be delayed due the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's recent decision requiring a more thorough site-specific analysis for each project. The NRC will require a supplemental environmental impact statement for each mining project rather than a more simplified environmental assessment, which the agency had considered. Some officials in the uranium industry claim the NRC overreacted to a groundswell of public concern that they say comes from either ignorance of the in-situ leach mining process or a desire to block uranium mining. Industry officials have also told the Star-Tribune they worry that investors are losing patience. However, those who scrutinize the emerging next generation of uranium mining say both the industry and government regulators have a history that deserves skepticism. Shannon Anderson, community organizer for the Powder River Basin Resource Council, said she has researched dozens upon dozens of spills and excursions documented by the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality. The Star-Tribune has also reviewed DEQ documentation describing dozens of violations related to in-situ recovery of uranium in the state.

The CEO of Energy Fuels, George Glasier, holds up a tiny pellet, smaller than a ping-pong ball, to illustrate his point. This pellet of nuclear fuel, he says, is the equivalent of five gallons of oil, one railroad car, or 100 tons of coal. Behind this small finished pellet, however, is a long and expensive chain of production, from mining the uranium ore, to milling it into concentrated yellowcake that will travel across the country to be refined again into pellets that are placed into a fuel rod and used in a nuclear reactor. Right now, the price of uranium is too low to support that chain of production, according to Denison Mines President Ron Hochstein. Hochstein said that Denison's White Mesa Mill, the nation's only operating uranium mill, has ceased its regular milling operations for the remainder of 2009. "We will stop processing conventional ore through 2009, but will be processing alternate feedstock on a reduced scale, and we'll be laying off some personnel," said Hochstein. "Our costs are higher than the current spot price." Hochstein was upbeat about the future of the uranium market, and his company already has processing contracts in place for 2011, when he expects that the spot price of uranium will again make it profitable to process the radioactive material.