Uranium Mining

Australian Companies Mining Uranium in Africa

Question | Spokesperson Scott Ludlam
Friday 4th November 2011, 4:07pm
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Question No. 578

Senator Ludlam asked the Minister representing the Minister for Trade, upon notice, on 4 April 2011:
With reference to uranium mining in Africa by Australian mining companies:
(1) Did any departmental officers attend the Indaba mining conference held in Cape Town in February 2011; if so, who attended and with what purpose and outcome.
(2) What further discussions or correspondence has the department had with representatives of the Australia-Africa Mining Industry Group or mining industry representatives in relation to possible partnerships between Australian mining companies operating in Africa and AusAID.
(3) What companies, bodies and officers have been involved in this discourse and with what outcomes.
(4) Can an outline be provided of the process for the sale of the Australian mining company Mantra Resources Limited to the Russian nuclear company ARMZ Uranium Holding Co.
(5) What role does the department play in any assessment or approval of such a sale.
(6) Has the department provided any advice to any party or agency, for example, the Foreign Investment Review Board, on this sale.
(7) (a) What government assessment, due diligence or approval is required in such a case; and (b) what are the mechanisms for realising this.
(8) Does the department expect or require Australian mining companies operating in Africa to abide by standards comparable to those that apply in Australia and to observe responsible international practice; if so, how is this expectation or requirement given effect.
(9) What is the department's position on the current situation of the Bannerman Resources Etango Project in Namibia, particularly in relation to the public comment period on the project being completed prior to the public release of the environmental and social impact assessment and the environmental and social management plan (both key environmental assessment documents).

Senator Conroy - the following answer has been provided by the Minister for Trade to the Honourable Senator's question:

(1) Yes. The Mining Indaba conference was attended by Assistant Secretary, Africa Branch, and Director, Western Australia State Office, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, as well as the Heads of Mission of Australia's diplomatic missions in sub-Saharan Africa: High Commissioner, Abuja; High Commissioner, Accra; Ambassador, Harare; High Commissioner, Nairobi; High Commissioner, Port Louis; and High Commissioner, Pretoria. Also in attendance were Second Secretary, Australian High Commission, Accra; and Australian High Commission, Pretoria.

Motion on uranium sales to non-NPT states

Motion | Spokesperson Scott Ludlam
Monday 31st October 2011, 5:19pm
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Senator LUDLAM (Western Australia) (15:01): I move:

That the Senate-


(a) congratulates the Government for maintaining Australia's longstanding policy of predicating bilateral nuclear cooperation agreements on the condition of membership to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons; and


(b) calls on the Government to identify the countries to which it will not permit the sale of uranium.


Gaping holes in Wiluna uranium plan demand it be rejected

Media Release | Spokesperson Scott Ludlam
Monday 31st October 2011, 2:45pm
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Toro Energy's bid to mine uranium at Wiluna has raised a series of unanswered questions, WA Greens warned today.

In his submission to the Environmental Protection Authority, Greens Senator for Western Australia Scott Ludlam identified a several alarming holes in company's impact assessment of the proposed mine.

"Only the first iteration of this project is being assessed. This project should not proceed until there is a full public inquiry as provided for under the Act into the wider environmental and public health consequences of uranium mining in WA, and full disclosure by the company as to the real scope of the project. This company has multiple targets on dozens of tenements across the north-east goldfields."

Senator Ludlam said Toro's application was startlingly incomplete.

"The company does not yet know from where it will source 35 million tonnes of groundwater over the proposed 14 year life of the mine. It does not yet have a coherent proposal for transporting the radioactive concentrate thousands of kilometres to the port of Darwin. Toro has not yet undertaken a formal assessment of security risks, despite acknowledging potentially high risks in the transport phase, and there has been no high volume air sampling for much of the 2010 sampling period.


"A formal agreement with Aboriginal Traditional Owners has not been signed and the mandatory heritage mapping survey has not yet been completed.

"Toro has not revealed estimates of future mine closure liability and has not submitted a final rehabilitation plan. This is remarkable given the company intends for post-closure liability to pass to Australian taxpayers only 10 years after mining ceases, though the consequences of the mine will endure for many centuries."


Greens WA member for the mining and pastoral region Robin Chapple MLC said the "original EIS in March 1981 of the failed Lake Way project identified the need to build a new bore field for the Town of Wiluna as the water draw done would have posed a risk to the community. There is no such commitment or acknowledgment in the current referral relating to water drawdown or contamination".

Senator Ludlam said it is ridiculous that the EPA is still precluded from considering the wider consequences of uranium exports - and restricted to assessing only the domestic impacts of the project.

"Australia's general approach involves approving exports of this material while refusing any liability for the risks inherent in fissioning the product in reactors, let alone contemplating the fact our uranium exports facilitate diversion of other sources into nuclear weapons production.

"If the events following the triple-meltdown in Japan have taught us anything, it is that the calculated ignorance of Australian policy makers as to the consequences of this trade is no longer supported by the majority of Australians, and should be brought within the remit of the EPA."



Media Contact: Giovanni Torre - 0417 174 302


 


 

Rudd sugar coating doesn’t hide the toxic truth behind mining in Africa

Media Release | Spokesperson Scott Ludlam
Monday 24th October 2011, 5:29pm
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The Foreign Minister should think twice before cheerleading for mining operations in Africa, the Australian Greens warned today.


Greens Senator Scott Ludlam said Kevin Rudd's recent glowing praise of mining prospects in Africa was misguided, particularly with regards to Paladin Energy.


"In 2006 Paladin executive director John Borshoff outlined the rationale underpinning the push by Australian uranium outfits in Africa by saying ‘the Australians and Canadians have become over-sophisticated in their environmental and social concerns over uranium mining, the future is in Africa'.


"In other words, standards for protecting the environment, mine workers and human health are too tough for Paladin in our own country, so they've headed elsewhere.


"Australian investment in African countries should be encouraging the spread of high workplace and environmental standards and safe, well-paid local employment. Instead we have seen mining companies flock to Africa in the hope they can cut corners on health, safety, wages and the environment. The Foreign Minister needs to think more about what kind of globalisation he believes in."



Media Contact: Giovanni Torre - 0417 174 302


 

ASNO on uranium sales, Burma and Olympic Dam expansion

Estimates Transcripts | Spokesperson Scott Ludlam
Sunday 23rd October 2011, 3:08pm
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CHAIR: Thank you, Senator Eggleston. With the permission of the rest of the committee we will move through to national security, nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation. Senator Ludlam.


Senator LUDLAM: I thank the committee for the opportunity to not send these gentlemen home empty-handed. I want to quickly go through a couple of issues relating to uranium sales in various parts of the world, which is a big part of your mandate. Do you care to comment on recent media reports that Australia and India have begun a dialogue that is likely to include discussion over future uranium sales to India? First of all, have you taken part in that dialogue-if, indeed, it is occurring-and what part have you taken?

Uranium and health: industry has to face the unpleasant facts

Media Release | Spokesperson Scott Ludlam
Saturday 22nd October 2011, 6:37pm
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Mr. Michael Angwin of the Australian Uranium Association has objected to my statement to the ABC 1 that ‘Uranium mining has killed a lot of its workforce', and has demanded I withdraw the comment.
I will do no such thing.
There is a well-established link between uranium mining and lung cancer.

Uranium miners are exposed to radon gas. According to the WHO, radon is a carcinogen 2 and the second most common cause of cancer in the world, responsible for up to 14% of all lung cancer and 30% of lung cancers in non-smokers. All radon studies of lung cancer show a linear relationship between dose and risk of cancer.

In 2009, the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) reported that radon exposure was more risky than experts had thought, and cut the recommended dose threshold by half. 3
The Biological Effects of Ionising Radiation VI report (1999) 4 reviewed eleven studies covering a total of 60,000 underground uranium miners. The report found an increasing frequency of lung cancer, directly proportional to the cumulative amount of radon the miners had been exposed to.

As the industry knows, radiation exposure can take a decade or more to manifest as a cancer or other condition, which makes it impossible to put a time and a place on exposure. Despite this, many peer reviewed studies 5 of uranium mine workers shows increased cancer mortality as well as chromosomal aberrations.

The industry often underestimates worker exposure as it is presumed that miners always use personal protective equipment designed to reduce inhalation. The fact is, they often don't.

The maximum additional radiation exposure permitted to the general public is 1 millisievert per year; for uranium miners it is 20 millisieverts. This increased exposure to radiation increases the risks and the occurrences of cancer.

Science predicts an increase of 1 in 10,000 incidence of cancer per 1 millisievert. The average uranium mine worker is in their late 20s and stays 3 to 5 years. If they receive the average of 3-8 millisieverts per year and don't wear their protective equipment at all times, that average increases steeply.

Today's standards are better than the conditions that wiped out the miners of Bohemia or the Native Americans of the Four Corners region in the USA. But uranium mining has killed a lot of its workforce - globally, historically and currently, Mr. Angwin.



http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-10-21/20111021-uranium-miner-response/35...
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs291/en/index.html
http://www.icrp.org/page.asp?id=16
http://www.epa.gov/radon/beirvi.html
www.wise-uranium.org/uhm.html

ARPANSA

Estimates Transcripts | Spokesperson Scott Ludlam
Thursday 20th October 2011, 8:26am
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Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency - Wedmesday 19 October - Economics Committee


[12:42]


CHAIR: Welcome.


Senator LUDLAM: Welcome back, Dr Larsson. FSANZ have taken the meat curry away, so we have at least saved you that trauma.


Ms Halton : I am sure they will share it later.

NT uranium mine workers still not on national radiation register

Media Release | Spokesperson Scott Ludlam
Wednesday 19th October 2011, 1:17pm
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Uranium mine workers in the Northern Territory are still not on the National Radiation Dose Register, five months after their exclusion was revealed by the Australian Greens.


Greens Senator Scott Ludlam exposed the information black hole during Estimates hearings in May, and today while quizzing representatives from the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency discovered that nothing had been done to fix it.

Dept. of Environment on EPBC approval of Olympic Dam expansion

Estimates Transcripts | Spokesperson Scott Ludlam
Wednesday 19th October 2011, 7:44am
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Senator LUDLAM: I want to discuss the proposed Olympic Dam expansion, which was assessed by your department. Would you confirm, firstly, the magnitude of the expansion as approved relative to the size of the project that was proposed in the EIS. I understand that the EIS covered a facility capable of producing up to 750,000 tonnes of copper per annum, with the associated environmental impacts. What we appear to have now is a project that would produce up to one million tonnes of copper per annum. Would you confirm whether there is a discrepancy there. Or am I misreading that?

Office of the Supervising Scientist

Estimates Transcripts | Spokesperson Scott Ludlam
Wednesday 19th October 2011, 7:41am
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Tuesday 18 October, Environment Communication and the Arts Committee


CHAIR: Mr Hughes, do you have an opening statement?


Mr Hughes : No, thank you.


Senator LUDLAM: Mr Hughes, it is nice to see you again. I will get straight into it because time is pretty short. Can you tell us what your role was in the approval of the Olympic Dam expansion?