(The dates shown reflect the date of the event, not necessarily the date of the addition to this site. It is therefore advisable to check also dates older than your last visit.)
Latest major spills and excursions reported from mines exploited by the in situ leach process
Crow Butte, Nebraska:
Mar. 14, 2013: Evaporation Pond 1 liner leak
Jan. 18, 2013: Well fails mechanical integrity test
Oct. 24, 2012: Well fails 20-year mechanical integrity test
Aug. 20, 2012: Well fails 5-year mechanical integrity test
Smith Ranch, Wyoming:
May 5, 2013: 55,000 gallon spill of injection fluid (2 ppm U)
Mar. 12, 2013: Monitor well placed on excursion status
Feb. 19, 2013: Monitor well placed on excursion status
Oct. 20, 2012: 100 gallon spill of production fluid (31.1 ppm U)
Oct. 16, 2012: 50 gallon spill of injection fluid
Aug. 20, 2012: Monitor well placed on excursion status
PRI Highland, Wyoming:
Mar. 11, 2013: Monitor well placed on excursion status
Feb. 17, 2013: 105 gallon spill of production fluid (5.7 ppm U)
Dec. 20, 2012: 1141 gallon spill of production fluid (23.1 ppm U)
Aug. 8, 2012: Monitor well placed on excursion status
Aug. 1, 2012: Monitor well placed on excursion status
Willow Creek (ex Christensen Ranch/Irigaray), Wyoming:
Mar. 7, 2013: Evaporation pond leak
Mar. 5, 2013: "potential leaks" at two evaporation ponds
Feb. 11, 2013: 2,100 gallon spill of injection fluid
Dec. 23, 2012: 800 gallon spill of injection fluid (< 0.4 ppm U)
Dec. 22, 2012: 950 gallon spill of disposal well fluid (2.1 ppm U)
Dec. 9, 2012: 1,500 gallon spill of injection fluid (< 0.4 ppm U)
Oct. 12, 2012: Monitor well placed on excursion status
Sep. 10, 2012: spill of injection fluid from unplugged historic drillhole located near injection well
Sep. 7, 2012: 1,000 gallon spill of injection fluid
Muyunkum (Moinkum), Kazakhstan:
Nov. 25, 2011: spill of 240 cubic metres of production solution, after pipeline was severed by truck
Beverley North, South Australia:
Jan. 17, 2013: 72 m3 injection solution spill
May 12, 2012: Monitor well excursion
May 2, 2012: Monitor well excursion
Honeymoon, South Australia:
July 10, 2012: fumes observed emanating from the dry hopper in the Drying and Packaging controlled area
Jan. 6, 2012: 30 cubic metre spill of injection solution (2 mg/L U3O8)
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"Two thirds of the earth's surface is water... the rest we can process"
(Motto of MDM Engineering Group Limited , contractor to gold/uranium miners Gold One International Ltd and Gold Fields Ltd)
"Interviewed, URANEX Public Relation Officer Nyero Godwin denied the allegations, contending that the type of uranium that would be extracted was in “salt form”, insisting that no person would be affected."
(referring to health problems, in particular from dust, attributed to uranium exploration performed by Uranex NL in Bahi and Manyoni districts, in: The Guardian, Tanzania, Oct. 8, 2011)
"the deputy minister for Energy and Minerals, Mr Adam Malima, said the mining activities would not have any impact on the people since the minerals would only be produced in their raw form"
(referring to uranium mining projects in Bahi and Manyoni districts in Tanzania, in: The Citizen, August 15, 2011)
"With regard to tailings, tailings are in fact a potential future resource so I think there's a considerable incentive to manage the tailings in a very good way with that in mind."
(Michael Angwin of the Australian Uranium Association referring to the uranium mill tailings from a proposed expansion of the Olympic Dam uranium mine, ABC Aug. 5, 2011)
"Another woman said Arizona Mine Inspector Joe Hart of Kingman told her the mining process would make the environment cleaner."
(Mohave Daily News, July 7, 2011, reporting on meeting of Mohave County Board of Supervisors, before it voted to support rather than ban uranium mining near the Grand Canyon)
"No, that's not radioactive, you can't say that. This is water that indeed contains radium, a certain number of products [...]"
(François Sublime, technical director of Areva's subsidiary COMUF responsible for reclamation of the Mounana uranium mine site, Gabon, referring to the water covering the uranium mill tailings dam; RFI May 28, 2011)
"Mining is a 24 hour operation and cannot be stopped as a result of a shortage of available dust masks"
(Johan De Bruin, geology superintendent of Paladin's Kayelekera uranium mine in Malawi, Nyasa Times Sep. 25, 2010)
"at the mine we focus on production matters"
(Mr. Werner Duvenhage, Managing Director Langer Heinrich, Paladin Energy Africa, September 2010, in an email communication with WISE Amsterdam, denying request for information and site visit)
"This is like a water clean up project, and we are going to sell the by-product on"
(Powertech project manager Mark Hollenbeck on the Dewey-Burdock in situ leach uranium mining project, South Dakota Public Broadcasting Apr. 5, 2010)
"We're taking the uranium out of the ground, we're exporting it to be used for productive purposes, so we should be getting a medal for cleaning up the environment."
(Neville Huxham, Malawi country director for Paladin Energy Africa, operator of the Kayelekera uranium mine, IPS Aug. 24, 2009)
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