Feds speed up removal of Moab uranium tailings

Comment: Is this Pittsylvania County’s future from uranium mining and milling? Demand the State of Virginia not to embrace old fashion ideas of uranium mining and milling! The State of Virginia needs to stay with true Green Energy!


by Mike Stark
Associated Press Writer
Article Last Updated; Friday, July 31, 2009

SALT LAKE CITY - Work to remove 16 million tons of radioactive waste away from the tourist town of Moab is about to go a little faster.

The U.S. Department of Energy plans to double the amount of uranium tailings removed each day from the shores of the Colorado River.

Right now, rail cars haul about 2,800 tons of tailings a day to a dump site 30 miles away, where they're placed in specially designed cells. A second train will be added in mid-August, said Don Metzler, the DOE's manager for the project.

Each shipment includes 22 rail cars - each capable of holding four containers full of 32 tons of waste each.

Metzler said additional rail cars and larger containers may also be added to each rail shipment later this year.

The waste is part of a Cold War legacy in Moab, where rich uranium deposits were mined during the 1950s for nuclear weapons. The uranium mill closed in 1984 but left behind a 130-acre heap of tailings on the banks of the Colorado River.

Officials have long worried that flooding in the area could wash some of the hazardous material into the river, which provides drinking water for millions of people downstream.

Over the next decade or so, federal officials plan to move the waste north to Crescent Junction, an area away from the river where disposal pits have been dug.

Trains began transporting the waste in April as part of the $1 billion cleanup project. So far, more than 160,000 tons have been removed.

The rail shipments were originally scheduled for once a day Monday through Thursday.

In mid-June, shipments were expanded to include Fridays after $108 million in federal stimulus funds were announced for the project. The additional train shipment will mean one load will be transported in the morning and one in the evening.

Trains don't run on Saturdays or Sundays to avoid conflicts with those who recreate in the area.

The infusion of stimulus cash accelerates the estimated completion date for the project, from 2028 to about 2022. Additional funds would make it more likely the work is done by 2019, Metzler said.

The project employs about 200 people.


http://www.durangoherald.com/sections/News/2009/07/31/Feds_speed_up_removal_of_Moab_uranium_tailings/

Hot Town

Comment: This is scary uranium mining history, remember history likes to repent itself when it comes to uranium mining and milling! People knew uranium mill tailings were radioactive but corporations used them in building schools and business with little regards to people health! The article states facts that uranium is the cause of birth defects from the uranium tailings! The local uranium group have said they will not mine uranium if it is not safe, well let us take a trip to Grand Junction, and find the sick children!

Monday, Dec. 20, 1971

Except on the coldest days of the Colorado winter, the doors of the Pomona Elementary School annex, on the outskirts of Grand Junction, are opened during recess. The reason is that the building is radioactive. Unless the rooms are aired, radioactive gases and particles seeping through the floors cause the radiation in the school rooms to rise dangerously above safe levels. In fact, during the summer months when the school is closed up, radiation rises to a level 18 times higher than the guideline established by the U.S. Surgeon General.

Pomona Elementary's problem is shared in less acute form by buildings in at least a dozen other Colorado communities and by Grand Junction itself, an important uranium-producing town until the ore petered out in the mid-1960s.

The villain is uranium "tailings" —the gray, sandy debris that piled up in small mountains beside the mills as refuse from the mining operations. The tailings were known to contain some residual radiation, but below levels the AEC then considered to be a health or safety hazard. As the town boomed along with its uranium mines, Grand Junction contractors seized on the tailings as a convenient and cheap source of landfill and concrete mix.

Over the years, thousands of tons of tailings went into the construction of schools, homes, commercial buildings, sidewalks, an airfield and a shopping mall.

Cleft Palates.

By 1961, says the AEC, "form letters" were mailed to health officials warning that while the agency did not have regulatory jurisdiction over the tailings, their radium content could be hazardous; health officials, however, claim they never received the letters. In 1966 the Colorado state health department attached test film badges to several buildings in downtown Grand Junction; the badges promptly turned black from radioactivity. This led the state to pass legislation requiring contractors to get permits before using tailings in any project.

In 1970 a pediatrician in Grand Junction, Dr. Robert Ross, noticed an increase in the number of cleft palates and other birth defects in the area, and communicated his concern to Dr. C. Henry Kempe, chairman of the pediatrics department at the University of Colorado's Medical Center. Their joint studies, reported last October, indicated that the incidence of cleft lip and palate was almost twice as high in the Grand Junction area as for the rest of Colorado, the birth rate significantly lower, the death rate from congenital anomalies 50% higher.

But the town was slow to take alarm. Paul Hathaway, regional editor of Grand Junction's Daily Sentinel, explains: "Uranium turned this from a sleepy little cow town to a booming city. They accept it as part of their existence.

That's why you don't see a lot of immediate concern about the tailings." As Frank Folk, who is principal of a local school, puts it: "I'd just as soon be here in the clear air with the tailings as in some of those cities with their smog."

Radon Daughters.

Maybe so, but scientists are now seriously concerned about the long-term effects of such low-level radiation on individuals living and working in buildings in which tailings were used. Of about 5,000 such structures in the Grand Junction area between 1,500 and 2,000 have been found to contain radon gas. This gas is so penetrating that it can seep through foundations and into basements and other closed spaces. Even more ominous is the fact that radon gas breaks down into "radon daughters," highly radioactive substances that physicians believe cause genetic defects and cancer.

TIME Correspondent Ted Hall, who recently visited the town, reports that the mood there now is one of apprehension, confusion over how much radiation is actually dangerous, and anger.

"I'm not trying to become the Ralph Nader of radiation," explains Willis Stubbs, an insurance salesman whose four children attend Pomona Elementary, "but people need to be told to get the hell out from the tailings, or that it's all right." Both he and his wife have come to doubt the Surgeon General's guideline. Says Mrs. Stubbs: "They say chances of damage to the children is one in a million. Well, suppose your child is that one in a million? We happen to be parents and we are concerned about it." So are some local businessmen.

A bank has decided not to offer mortgages to home buyers until radiation readings have been made.

What to Do?

Remedies are not easy. Of course, entire structures can be torn down, but not many people want to do that. Alternatively, hot structures can be jacked up and the fill replaced with dirt. But all this is expensive, and neither the state nor the AEC has been eager to pick up the tab. The whole problem is confused by the continuing debate about how much radiation is dangerous—an incredibly difficult decision since effects may not show up for several generations.

Last week, AEC Chairman James Schlesinger visited Denver, where he discussed Grand Junction's troubles with Governor John Love and admitted that Grand Junction contractors, the state, and the AEC share a "moral responsibility" for the tailings.

He stressed that the radiation poses no "immediate" danger to residents. On the other hand, he said that radiation levels "are higher than we would prefer, so some remedial action is intended." When, he could not say—except to state that "there is presently no plan to provide funds from the Federal Government" for removing the tailings, which could cost as much as $20 million.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,878989,00.html

Tide of toxic water poses health risk

"The water is half a metre from the surface and about to decant into the Vaal River system"

Comment: The same problems has happen out West and our future if uranium mining is approved in VA!

Bobby Jordan Published:Jun 27, 2009

Acid dissolves minerals in old mines

A river of acid water — enough to fill 600 swimming pools a day — has flooded old gold mines west of Johannesburg and is just days away from spilling over, causing an environmental disaster.

Natural ground water becomes highly acidic after flowing into old underground mines, where it dissolves heavy metals such as iron and uranium. In this form, it poses a health risk to humans and animals and damages the environment and agricultural land.

Long-term exposure to the poisoned water poses major health risks, including increased rates of cancer, skin lesions and retarded brain development.

An overflow of toxic mine water in the past led to radioactive contamination of Robinson Lake — a fishing and picnic area that has now become lifeless — outside Randfontein on the West Rand.

Acidic water is also dissolving huge areas of underground rock, threatening the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage site.

The rapid rise in the water level follows the partial closure of a water treatment plant outside Randfontein because of wrangling between the government and mining companies over the cost of cleaning up the toxic mess caused by mining, and the quality of water left behind.

Despite warnings from scientists, the toxic tide — called acid mine drainage — has filled an underground void called the western basin, which comprises hundreds of square kilometers between Krugersdorp and Randfontein, once the world’s richest gold mining area. The water is now half a metre from the surface and about to start decanting into the Vaal River system.

Acid water is also fast filling up two other underground caverns — a central basin beneath Johannesburg and Soweto stretching as far as Alberton, and an eastern basin beneath the East Rand as far as Nigel and Springs.

If left unchecked, this water could also decant and contaminate water that ultimately flows into the Orange River.

The looming crisis in the western basin has prompted a flurry of negotiations between the government and mining companies, which have set up a technical task team in the hope of avoiding a potential environmental disaster.

In the past, pumps kept gold mines outside Johannesburg largely free of water because most water was pumped to the surface, partially treated and released into rivers. Now many of the gold mines have closed or can no longer afford to keep pumping, and vast underground areas are filling up.

“It (the western basin) is the first gold basin that has filled and decanted — to overflow uncontrollably. That’s why it’s an issue,” said Rand Uranium senior consultant for sustainable development Rex Zorab. “It’s not like the central basin where there’s a huge void still to be filled,” he said.

At the heart of the problem are new water management regulations released this year, which direct mining companies to clean all pumped water to drinking-quality standard. Until now, they only partially treated pumped water before releasing it into the Vaal River system.

Mining firms said it would take at least two years to build a new water treatment plant to meet the government’s demands, at a cost of about R550-million. The government says the companies are nevertheless liable for environmental damage caused by discharging partially treated water — so the companies have reduced the amount of water they pump out.

The impasse involves three mining companies: Mintails, DRD Gold and Rand Uranium. Until recently, they treated 25 megalitres of acid mine drainage daily at two plants.

But a stalemate in negotiations over water quality prompted Mintails to partially close their treatment plant in April, causing water in the basin to fill up. It is now just days until acid water starts pouring out of an old mine shaft close to Randfontein — and spilling into the Tweelopie Spruit, which feeds into the Mooi River that supplies untreated water to Potchefstroom. The spruit also feeds into the Crocodile River.

Department of Water and Environmental Affairs spokesman Linda Page said: “They (the three companies ) have been given 90 days to stop discharging into the Tweelopie Spruit. Failure to do so will result in further action from the department.”

Mintails spokesman Basie Maree said: “We are committed to turn the water plant to full production once we have a clear directive on water quality standards and liability impacts.” jordanb@sundaytimes.co.za

http://www.thetimes.co.za/PrintEdition/Article.aspx?id=1024839

Mill termed “perpetual radioactive hazardous waste” facility

Comment: Uranium Milling consider “perpetual radioactive hazardous waste” facility because wants to take other waste - is this Southside, VA future - No to uranium mining & milling!

By Dick Kamp
Wick Communications Environmental Liaison

MONTROSE -- Montrose County Planning Director Steve White said Thursday that he would not postpone a May 19 Montrose County Planning Commission public hearing on the Energy Fuels Pinon Ridge uranium mill special use permit. White received a request for hearing postponement and permit denial from the Durango-based Energy Mineral Law Center (EMLC).

EMLC attorney Travis Stills, on behalf of mill-opponents Paradox Valley Sustainability Association, e-mailed White a letter on May 13 requesting the action and stated that,“in addition to the milling facility, the special use permit under consideration could allow a series of specially designed byproduct disposal impoundments for purposes of perpetual disposal and storage of hazardous radioactive wastes, a use which is explicitly prohibited in the Agricultural Zone.”

Still’s letter continued, “...the milling facilities would operate for a period of years and then be removed. By contrast, the associated ‘byproduct materials impoundments’ would become permanent features of the agricultural zone with the impoundments, and the hazardous wastes they contain, deeded to a state or federal agency for perpetual management of these unusually hazardous wastes.”

Regarding the wastes, Still’s wrote, “Energy Fuels description is misleading, at best, and lacks any detail on the actual composition of the hazardous wastes which may be placed in the ‘byproduct material impoundments.’ Byproduct material includes, but is not limited to, the tailings from the proposed mill.”

Stills quoted from an EPA document categorizing radioactive hazards from uranium milling (beneficiation) that said, “Waste constituents of concern include (radioactive) radionuclides (radium, radon, thorium, and to a lesser extent lead), arsenic, copper, selenium, vanadium, molybdenum, other heavy metals, and dissolved solids. Brines, spent ion exchange resins, and chemicals used in beneficiation operations are also constituents of wastes generated during beneficiation. Most wastes generated by conventional mills are disposed of in tailings impoundments.

“(The) fate of radionuclides is of special interest in uranium mill tailings….The concentrations of radionuclides in the tailings will vary depending on the leach method used…..typically, tailings will contain between 50 and 86 percent of the original radioactivity of the ores.”

Stills added, “it appears that many of the problems with the public notice and staff review may have been due to the changing nature of the application under current consideration. The current version was provided in publicly reviewable form on May 6, 2009, after the public notice was published.”

“The correct thing to do is hold the hearing”

White said that although Stills might have been raising a legitimate concern, “we’ve long known that the waste cells would contain mill wastes and on the surface this project is one big package that may require more information. The planning commission can certainly ask for that; they could even ask for separate applications with more information and Stills and his group can raise their concerns to them. Why did Travis send this letter at the last minute instead of three weeks ago? Although I haven’t spoken with our attorney, the correct thing to do at this point is to hold the hearing as we’ve announced to the public.”

Could the mill process radioactive waste?

Stills said that he is concerned that not only will the facility become a waste dump containing the elements described by EPA, but that it could theoretically receive ore from regional uranium mines such as those owned by Energy Fuels and other local producers, but also radioactive wastes from other sources for processing.

“One example could be wastes from in-situ leach operations or from other sources.

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) denied permission to the Canon City mill to import Mayfield, N.J. hazardous and radioactive waste after the county demanded that the state halt efforts by the mill not to import them. The Dennison White Mesa mill in Utah has considered bringing in wastes from Japan and Italy.

“What type of facility is the county considering a special use permit for in an agricultural zone? First, you can’t just suddenly decide that this is a heavy industrial zone, that is not how planning and zoning laws work. At this point this is a facility that has been drawn on the back of an envelope, albeit an expensive one. Will this permit explicitly prohibit the importation of wastes as a feedstock?

“Why does the county want to have a hearing now instead of in the fall, or the spring of next year when we know what the state is approving,” Sills told the Daily Press.

White acknowledged that, the importation of mill feedstock, beyond ore from regional mines, is a serious consideration that goes beyond Still’s issues in his letter. He said, “I would certainly consider that restricting the mill to processing ore would be a reasonable consideration, and I believe that the planning commission and county commissioners would agree with that. If it comes to that, we could certainly put a condition on a permit that prohibits the importation of waste for processing.”

George Glasier, CEO of Energy Fuels, had not responded to requests for comment.

http://www.montrosepress.com/articles/2009/05/16/news/doc4a0f6aa1d533b961867129.txt

Moab cleanup project officially begins

By Amy Joi O'Donoghue

Deseret News

Published: Monday, May 4, 2009 4:53 p.m. MDT
MOAB — Against the backdrop of the Colorado River and amid much fanfare, a celebration of the removal of the Moab tailings "pile" got under way Monday, featuring remarks by Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.

Huntsman told a crowd of federal, state and local representatives, as well as contractors involved with the project, that the removal of the tailings represents the combination of years of hard work and cooperative efforts by a variety of people.

"The people of Moab and Grand County so cared about this issue that they made it their priority," he said.

Stressing that the removal of the tailings is not a matter of pride, but a matter of environmental necessity, the governor said this day happened because of people in the area "going nuclear on this issue — because that is what it took to make the wheels of government move."

Monday's event also included remarks from U.S. Rep. Grace Napolitano, D-Calif., who was one of the instrumental congressional players behind getting the tailings cleaned up.

"It is a new day," Napolitano said, reflecting that she had stood at that same site eight years ago, when clean-up efforts first began. She became involved in the issue, despite it being outside her state, because the Colorado River is important to the entire West.

"We drink your water. It's that simple," she said.

The official start of the tailings removal — rail cars hauling the waste to Crescent Junction 30 miles to the north actually began operations two weeks ago, to make sure everything would work as planned — capped a legacy carved more than a half century ago, when an unemployed geologist stumbled across the country's largest deposit of high-grade uranium. That led to a uranium-mining boom, which would fuel the local economy until the 1980s, when prices fell and overseas ore became cheaper to harvest.

The uranium mine has since gone bankrupt, but the remnants remain, and with it, the hazards posed by 16 million tons of mining waste that threaten the Colorado River.

Remediation of the site landed in the hands of the Department of Energy, and cleanup has been contracted to Utah-based EnergySolutions.

The celebration was a time to mark one more step in the process to try to return the 439-acre site to some semblance of is former pristine self.

"It's huge," said Donald Metzler, project manager with the Department of Energy, prior to the ceremony. "There's been a lot of interest, a lot of pressure, to get this done."

It has taken decades of environmental review, litigation, finger-pointing and congressional intervention to get to this point.

"It is a long time coming," said Loren Morton, an environmental manager with the Utah Department of Environmental Quality.

Morton has spent the better part of the last 10 years entrenched in all that goes along with a project of this magnitude, with millions spent already and millions left to spend.

It was just this year that a $108 million infusion of federal stimulus money was directed to accelerate cleanup of the site on the west bank of the Colorado River.

About 130 acres of the site is covered with the uranium-tailings pile, which at one point was destined to remain put — until flooding and worries about potential contamination of the river changed the government's mind.

Four years ago, Huntsman was joined by other governors from Western states in his firm call to the Department of Energy that the tailings be moved. Otherwise, the drinking water of more than 25 million people would be threatened.

Today, that call is answered.

E-MAIL: amyjoi@desnews.com

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/print/705301377/Tailings-project-officially-begins.html

First trainload of uranium tailings leaves Moab

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

MOAB — The first trainload of radioactive uranium tailings has been taken from a dump site near Moab.

U.S. Department of Energy officials say they’re still testing equipment and travel routes that are designed to eventually move 16 million tons of uranium waste to a disposal site 30 miles away at Crescent Junction.

The first trainload departed on Monday.

Don Metzler, project director for DOE, says the system is expected to be fully operational after a ribbon-cutting ceremony early next month.

After May 4, a train with 88 containers full of the sludge will depart in the evenings Monday through Thursday. This summer, train shipments are planned to increase to seven days a week.

The tailings near the Colorado River are leftovers from a former uranium mill about three miles northwest of Moab.

http://www.standard.net/live/news/170421

Atlantic Richfield Company to spend $10.2 million for cleanup at Anaconda Mine site in Yerington, Nev. / Settlement includes costs incurred by the EPA

Comment: this was a copper mine but it disturb uranium!

Release date: 04/22/2009

Contact Information: Margot Perez-Sullivan, 415.947.4149 Perezsullivan.margot@epa.gov

SAN FRANCISCO – In a settlement announced today, Atlantic Richfield Company (ARC) agreed to perform cleanup work, estimated at $8 million, at the former Anaconda Copper Mine site in Yerington, Nev., and pay the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency $2.2 million for response and oversight work conducted by the agency in areas of the mine formerly operated by ARC or its predecessor, Anaconda Minerals.

“With this agreement ARC will address the most critical contamination at the Anaconda mine,” said Keith Takata, director of the EPA’s Pacific Southwest Superfund division. “EPA will use the recovered costs to further reduce the environmental and health impacts from this contamination.”

The settlement specifically requires ARC to conduct the following activities with EPA’s oversight and approval:
· Cover expanses of ARC’s former evaporation ponds to prevent the accumulation of standing water that threatens wildlife and to prevent the migration of hazardous dust from the site;
· Remove radiological materials in the former process areas to a level that is safe for permanent workers at the site;
· Abate threats from abandoned electrical systems;
· Remove asbestos laden transite pipe within the site;
· Continue operation and maintenance of the heap leach fluid system at the site to prevent catastrophic discharges of acidic fluids and operate a system to deter wildlife from approaching the acidic fluids.

The EPA has spent approximately $10 million at the Anaconda Copper Mine site investigating and addressing wastes abandoned at the site. Specific actions include a spring 2006 action by the EPA to cap 100 acres of mine tailings to prevent erosion and dust blowing from the site, remove transformers, and build a collection pond to improve the Arimetco heap leach fluid system. The EPA completed additional repairs to the heap leach system in 2007 and 2008 to prevent discharges to ground water. ARC is performing other response actions at the site, including broad investigation of the nature and extent of ground water contamination, under two previous EPA Orders. Last year, ARC reimbursed EPA for $2.77 million in costs.

Site Background:
Originally known as the Empire Nevada Mine, the site began operation around 1918 and was acquired in 1953 by Anaconda Minerals. From 1977 to 1982 the company was owned by ARC and then sold to Don Tibbals, a local resident, who subsequently sold most of his interests to Arimetco Inc.

Arimetco operated a copper recovery operation from existing ore heaps within the site from 1989 to November 1999. Arimetco has terminated operations at the site and is currently managed under the protection of the United States Bankruptcy Court in Tucson, Ariz.

The threats on the site come from metals contaminating the groundwater and fugitive dust that could impact human health and surface water. Mining operations enhanced levels of naturally occurring uranium, making the radiological substance more pervasive and mobile in and around the site. Additional concerns include contaminated surface water that can impact wildlife.

For a site overview, please visit: http://www.epa.gov/region09/anaconda/
For a video of site conditions before EPA’s removal actions: http://www.epa.gov/region09/superfund/anaconda/

http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/0/F6078062FEB67137852575A00065183A

Demand Full Investigation and Remediation

Comment: Modern Uranium Mining at it's Worst (happening all over the World)


Accident at Jadugoda, India


On December 24, 2006, one of the pipes carrying radioactive wastes from the uranium mill to a storage dam had burst, discharging highly toxic wastes into a nearby creek. When released into the environment in such a hazardous manner, the radioactive wastes are deadly to the people living in the surrounding area as well as their land and water.

The accident occurred in Dungridih – a small village near Jadugoda inhabited largely by displaced families whose lands were acquired to construct two of the three storage dams, also known as tailings ponds.

The tailings ponds store all the radioactive wastes generated by the milling of uranium ore in Jadugoda. Based on the experience of similar accidents in other countries, however, the negative effects on human and environmental health will impact communities living downstream, perhaps even hundreds of kilometers away.

Therefore, it is imperative that the Uranium Company of India Limited (UCIL) – the owner and operator of the uranium mine, mill, pipes, and tailing ponds in Jadugoda – immediately inform downstream communities of the disaster and prevent them from using the creek water until it is certifiably safe.

Until the creek is safe to use, UCIL should supply water to the impacted communities so that they can continue their necessary activities such as bathing and washing clothes.

Also, UCIL may need to provide compensation for families living downstream whose livelihoods depend upon the stream, a tributary to the Subarnarekha River, either for irrigation or fishing.

It is troubling that UCIL did not have its own alarm mechanism to alert the company in cases of such a disaster.

Rather, the villagers that had arrived at the scene of the accident soon after the pipe burst informed the company of the toxic spill.

Even more reprehensible is the fact that the toxic sludge spewed into creek for nine hours before the flow of the radioactive waste was shut off.

Consequently, a thick layer of radioactive sludge along the surface of the creek killed scores of fish, frogs, and other riparian life.

According to reports in local Hindi newspapers, UCIL has begun repairing the pipe and removing sludge from the creek. This is an important step, but there must be a comprehensive remediation plan for cleaning up the affected sites in Jadugoda and elsewhere.

Based on the experience of remediation efforts in the United States, Canada, and elsewhere, some of the major action items that must be included in the plan are to:

• thoroughly investigate the causes and impacts of the disaster, involving UCIL, appropriate state agencies, and representatives of local community organizations such as JOAR (Jharkhand Organization Against Radiation);
  
• compensate the people harmed by the radioactive waste that has been accidentally discharged into the environment;


• decontaminate the soil and streams that have been affected by the bursting of the pipe;


• create and establish inspection mechanisms and procedures to routinely monitor the quality and safety of UCIL’s equipment;


• regularly measure and monitor the exposure of workers and area residents to the radioactive and hazardous chemical contaminants that are generated by the mining and milling of uranium;


• create and establish emergency response programs in order to ensure the safe, effective, and timely response to possible disasters; and


• fully disclose to area residents UCIL’s progress in its clean-up of the disaster as well as reports of its inspections and monitoring programs.
  

Papua New Guinea Hosts International Meeting on Ocean Dumping of Mine Waste

Friday January 2, 2009 11:41 AM

Dumping mine tailings into the sea via a submerged pipe is a highly controversial practice. While it is effectively banned in Canada under provisions of the Fisheries Act and the Metal Mining Effluent Regulations, Canadian companies practice so-called Submarine Tailings Disposal (STD) overseas.

Mining companies operating in island-rich nations in southeast Asia and the Pacific are particularly likely to seek permission to dump their waste into the sea.

Papua New Guinea (PNG) has already hosted two STD mines (one of which, now closed, was Canadian). Many more companies are indicating an interest in piping their waste into the seas around Papua New Guinea.

Fishing communities near the planned disposal sites of proposed STD mines in Papua New Guinea are expressing strong opposition to ocean dumping of mine waste.

The European Union has collaborated with Papua New Guinea’s Mining Sector Support Programme (MSSP) to fund an independent evaluation of so-called Deep-Sea Mine Tailings Placement in Papua New Guinea.

The research is being carried out by the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS). In November of this year, SAMS and MSSP hosted a conference in Madang, PNG, to present the preliminary findings of the research carried out by the SAMS team and to present Draft Guidelines for the use of STD in PNG.

MiningWatch Canada has worked on the issue of STD with partners in Indonesia, the Philippines and Papua New Guinea since 2000.

In 2002 MiningWatch Canada and Project Underground published an STD Toolkit that details the scientific and technical concerns associated with STD. The Toolkit also provides six case studies from the Asia Pacific region.

MiningWatch’s Catherine Coumans was invited to present at the conference in Madang and to hear preliminary findings of research being conducted by SAMS. The SAMS research to date recognizes many of the scientific and technical concerns elaborated in the STD Toolkit – among others: the potential for wider than predicted dispersal of tailings along the sea bottom; shearing off of tailings at various sea levels as they make their way to the sea bottom; the problem of pipe breaks at sea; greater levels of dissolved oxygen at depth than predicted in industry consultants’ reports; the potential for metal leaching from tailings in the marine environment; the ecosystem significance of marine biota found in deep sea environments; the inadequacy of baseline data for some STD mines; the importance of vertical migration of species from the deep sea to higher levels for potential metal mobility; and lack of information on potential re-colonization of tailings as biological processes are very slow at 1000 metre depths.

Scientific presenters noted that “less is known about the deep sea than about the back side of the moon” raising the need first and foremost for precaution when considering a massive anthropogenic impact on a fragile and not-well-understood ecosystem.

Although the Draft Guidelines SAMS presented are meant to apply to PNG, it is clear that they may potentially form the basis for international guidelines. MiningWatch Canada will continue to monitor the development of these guidelines.