Australian uranium industry “spin” wearing thin

Time to spill truth  on uranium sector,Townsville Bulletin, DAVE SWEENEY,  23 Nov 13,  THERE is an old saying that no trader calls out ‘‘bad fish’’. So it comes as no surprise that a former uranium company executive now paid to do public relations for the uranium sector will say all is well in the industry (Uranium: safety first, TB, 18/11). The reality is the industry is in very poor shape, financially and operationally – as can be seen by the recent mothballing of the Honeymoon mine in South Australia, because the numbers didn’t add up, and the backroom push by the Queensland Resources Council to get ‘‘royalty relief for Queensland uranium mines that have not even filed an application to develop yet.

The most recent independent assessment of the Australian uranium industry – an inquiry by the Australian Senate in October 2003 – found the sector characterised by underperformance and noncompliance, an absence of reliable data to measure contamination or its impact and an operational culture focused on the short-term.

Uranium mining is a high-risk, low-return sector that poses unique unresolved and long-lived threats and does not enjoy secure social license. Australian uranium fuelled Fukushima. Every Australian uranium mining operation has a history of leaks and spills. The need to manage radioactive materials over extremely long periods, along with security and

proliferation concerns, make uranium mining fundamentally different from other mining. In the shadow of Fukushima, and given the call by the UN Secretary General in September 2011 that Australia conduct an indepth assessment of the net cost impact of the impacts of uranium mining on communities and ecosystems, it is time the industry and state and federal governments supported a comprehensive and independent assessment of the costs and consequences.

The continued failure to do so highlights the industry’s preference for public relations over public scrutiny– and the fact that uranium is a very smelly fish.

 

Honeymoon over for Australian uranium mine

South Australian uranium Honeymoon mine to stop production, jobs in doubt  NEWS.COM.AU NOVEMBER 11, 2013 THE Honeymoon uranium mine in South Australia’s far northeast is expected to be mothballed. Low uranium prices and production difficulties at the plant have put pressure on the mine. The future of about 70 employees was not immediately known but far fewer employees would be needed when the mine is put under “care and maintenance”.

Honeymoon, which began producing uranium in 2011 , became wholly owned by Russian state company JSC Atomredmetzoloto in mid-October.

Previously it had been 49 per cent owned-and-operated by Canada’s Uranium One……..

Honeymoon is about 500km north by road from Adelaide, 80kms northwest of Broken Hill.It uses an in-situ leach method – where liquids are pumped underground to dissolve the uranium with the mineral extracted from the pregnant solution at the surface. SA is Australia’s leading uranium producer with Olympic Dam and Beverley in operation. Ranger in the NT is the only other mine. The Four Mile mine – near Beverley – has been approved but is yet to be built….. http://www.news.com.au/national/south-australia/south-australian-uranium-honeymoon-mine-to-stop-production-jobs-in-doubt/story-fnii5yv4-1226757697638

Australia’s Honeymoon uranium mine ‘not economic’ for Mitsui

Mitsui pulls out of Honeymoon mine, BY: BARRY FITZGERALD  The Australian May 10, 2012 JAPANESE
trading house Mitsui is pulling out of Australia’s newest uranium mine, the 340 tonnes a year Honeymoon operation in South Australia’s outback….. Mitsui took up its stake in Honeymoon in 2008. It was a first for the trading house, adding uranium to its better known portfolio of oil, coal and global liquefied natural gas interests.

Honeymoon started production in 2010 after expenditure of $138 million, with Mitsui’s entry cost being a $104m contribution to the capital cost. Its annual production makes it the smallest of Australia’s uranium mines behind ERA’s Ranger mine in Kakadu, BHP Billiton’s Olympic Dam in South Australia and Heathgate’s Beverley
mine in South Australia.

Mitsui’s exit follows the one-year anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami, which led to meltdowns at  the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan. But a Mitsui spokesman said the decision to exit Honeymoon was not directly related to the Fukushima tragedy.

Mitsui “could not foresee sufficient economic return from the project”, he said.

New Australian uranium mine to be controlled by Russia

Uranium One’s Honeymoon Well uranium project in South Australia will move into Russian government hands.

Uranium One to ARMZ? | Industrial Fuels and Power, 9 July 2010,  Uranium One, the second largest uranium company in Canada, is reportedly being taken over by ARMZ, a division of the Russian state nuclear company Rosatom. ARMZ will purchase a 51 per cent stake in Uranium One in exchange for US$610m.