Archive | Uranium and Nuclear Power Industry

Nutrien, Cameco CEOs again among highest-paid in Canada – by Alex MacPherson (Saskatoon StarPhoenix – January 4, 2021)

January 5, 2021 in Canadian Media Resource Articles, Potash/Phosphate, Saskatchewan Mining, Uranium and Nuclear Power Industry

https://thestarphoenix.com/

The heads of two publicly-traded corporations with significant mining operations in Saskatchewan were again among the country’s highest-paid executives in 2019.

Nutrien Ltd. CEO Chuck Magro’s $16.4-million pay package made him Canada’s 11th-highest-paid CEO, according to new data compiled by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

Cameco Corp. CEO Tim Gitzel, meanwhile, was paid a total of $7 million, good for 84th place on the list, which the self-described “progressive” think tank has published annually since 2006. Continue Reading →

The father, the son and the holy atom – by Stan Sudol (Northern Miner – December 22, 2020)

December 23, 2020 in Africa Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Stan Sudol Columns/Media References and Appearances, Uranium and Nuclear Power Industry

(LtoR) George A. Flach, P.Geo., Vice President, Exploration, Director; Tim
Campbell, Vice President & Secretary and Stephen G. Roman, Chairman, President & CEO at the Global Atomic Corporation Annual General Meeting on June 26, 2019. (Photo by Stan Sudol)

Global mining news

“IL EST MORT! He is dead!” At least that was the verdict of five French doctors who were on their way to a medical convention on the Paris to London Eurostar train in 2014, when they briefly examined “the body” of Stephen G. Roman, Global Atomic’s (TSX: GLO; US-OTC: GATF) founder, chairman and CEO.

“I was on my way to meetings in London after visiting our uranium properties in the Republic of Niger, West Africa, just north of Ghana,” Roman recounts. “I had not been feeling very well after I ate a meal before our roughly five-hour plane flight from Niamey to Paris, but I thought I would persevere. Just after being served dinner on the Eurostar, I violently vomited and passed out falling to the floor of the train.”

Luckily, on further examination, a nurse found his pulse and both Roman and George Flach, Global Atomic’s vice president of exploration, were evacuated from the train at Lille, France via ambulance, and brought to a local hospital with all their luggage, where after a day of intensive antibiotic treatment for a highly contagious and virulent intestinal bacteria, Roman finally started to recover. Continue Reading →

Uranium poised for price jump after 2nd Cigar Lake closure, analysts say – by Jacob Holzman (SPGlobal.com – December 2020)

December 16, 2020 in International Media Resource Articles, Saskatchewan Mining, Uranium and Nuclear Power Industry

https://www.spglobal.com/

The largest operational uranium mine in the world is shutting down for the second time in 2020 due to the spread of COVID-19, presenting fertile ground for another rise in prices linked to the pandemic.

Saskatchewan-based Cameco Corp. announced Dec. 14 the suspension of production at its 50%-owned Cigar Lake uranium mine in the province after three employees at the site tested positive for the coronavirus.

It was the second temporary closure of the mine due to COVID-19. Orano SA, which has a 37% interest in Cigar Lake, announced the same day that it was suspending production at the nearby McClean Lake uranium processing mill. Continue Reading →

Cameco suspends Cigar Lake operations again amid climbing COVID-19 cases in Saskatchewan – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – December 15, 2020)

December 15, 2020 in Canadian Media Resource Articles, Saskatchewan Mining, Uranium and Nuclear Power Industry

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Cameco Corp. is suspending operations at its Cigar Lake uranium mine in Saskatchewan for the second time this year to reduce the threat of further spread of COVID-19 into vulnerable northern communities as the province’s coronavirus caseload soars.

The province on Monday reported 267 new cases of the coronavirus and two more deaths. A total of 12,238 people have tested positive for COVID-19 in Saskatchewan and 91 have died from the disease since the pandemic began.

Located about 650 kilometres north of Saskatoon, Cigar Lake is the world’s biggest uranium mine, accounting for about 14 per cent of global output. Continue Reading →

In a Decarbonizing World, Brazil Wants to Be a Uranium Exporter – by Tatiana Freitas (Bloomberg News/Financial Post – November 16, 2020)

November 18, 2020 in International Media Resource Articles, Latin America Mining, Uranium and Nuclear Power Industry

https://financialpost.com/

(Bloomberg) — A mining project seen as a priority by the Brazilian government would turn the nation into a uranium exporter and reduce its fertilizer import needs if it proceeds.

Latin America’s largest economy, which currently imports uranium for its nuclear plants and ships in most of its fertilizer needs, will become more self-sufficient with a $400 million project in the nation’s impoverished northeast, according to the consortium formed to explore the deposit.

State-owned INB, which has a monopoly on uranium production in Brazil, formed a consortium with local fertilizer firm Galvani for the Santa Quiteria phosphate-uranium project. INB expects to extract about 2,100 metric tons of uranium a year from the deposit, while it needs roughly 750 tons to supply its nuclear energy plants. Continue Reading →

Belgium’s reckoning with a brutal history in Congo – by Neil Munshi (Financial Times – November 12, 2020)

November 13, 2020 in Africa Mining, Cobalt, Critical, Strategic and Rare Earth Minerals and Metals, Copper, Europe Mining, International Media Resource Articles, Uranium and Nuclear Power Industry

https://www.ft.com/

The cleaners who came for King Leopold II in Brussels this July knew what to do. Many times over the past few years, they have used chemicals to dissolve words such as “assassin”, “racist” and “murderer” scrawled across the statue on the Place du Trône.

As before, they removed the blood-red paint protesters had dumped on his hands. But this time they missed a spot: the fingertips and palm of his curled right hand were still crimson.

As protests following the killing of George Floyd in the US reverberated around the world this summer, Belgium, like many other countries, experienced its own reckoning: with a brutal colonial past, with the systemic racism that inhibits its black citizens today and with the question of what exactly it owes to the Democratic Republic of Congo, which it exploited for 75 years. Continue Reading →

Any plan for Canada to reach its climate targets must include nuclear – by John Gorman (Financial Post – November 10, 2020)

November 10, 2020 in Canada Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Climate Change, Carbon Taxes and ENGOs, Uranium and Nuclear Power Industry

https://financialpost.com/

CanadiansJohn Gorman is president and CEO of the Canadian Nuclear Association.

If and their governments want a serious energy plan for Canada, one that doesn’t require sacrificing our economic interests for our social and physical well-being, or vice versa, they need to consider nuclear power.

Nuclear energy is clean, energy-dense carbon-free, and reliable, generating power around the clock, whatever the weather. No plan for Canada to reach its climate targets that doesn’t have nuclear in the mix is credible.

Nuclear power is one of the largest producers of clean electricity around the world and — though people forget this — it’s already one of the most important generators of electricity in Canada, accounting for 15 per cent of production. Continue Reading →

Nunavut should take another look at uranium policy, MLA John Main says – by Jim Bell (Nunatsiaq News – November 5, 2020)

November 6, 2020 in Aboriginal and Inuit Mining and Oil/Gas, Canada Mining – North of 60, Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Uranium and Nuclear Power Industry

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If you thought the demise of the controversial Kiggavik uranium project in 2016 put a lid on the Nunavut uranium debate, think again.

John Main, the MLA for Arviat North–Whale Cove, said on Monday in a member’s statement that it’s time for the Government of Nunavut to take another look at the uranium policy statement it issued in 2012.

“I think we should consult Nunavummiut about whether they support uranium mining or not, and whether we should be talking about this matter, and if Nunavut should have that,” Main said. Continue Reading →

Cameco’s tax dispute with CRA may end up before Canada’s highest court (CTV News – November 1, 2020)

November 2, 2020 in Canadian Media Resource Articles, Saskatchewan Mining, Uranium and Nuclear Power Industry

https://saskatoon.ctvnews.ca/

SASKATOON — The Canada Revenue Agency is taking a dispute with Cameco over tax reassessment to the Supreme Court of Canada, seeking an appeal to a lower court ruling earlier this year.

On Oct. 30, the uranium mining company received notice that CRA is seeking a ruling from the Supreme Court of Canada, appealing the June 26 decision of the Federal Court of Appeal which sided with Cameco in its dispute of reassessments issued by the CRA for the 2003, 2005 and 2006 tax years.

“After two clear and decisive rulings in our favour from the Tax Court of Canada and the Federal Court of Appeal that confirmed we complied with both the letter and intent of the law, it is incredibly disheartening and unfair for our employees, communities and many other stakeholders to be once again thrown into uncertainty as a result of CRA’s actions,” said Cameco president and CEO Tim Gitzel in a news release. Continue Reading →

Quebec Cree say top court’s decision a victory for Indigenous communities – by Susan Bell (CBC News Canada North – October 29, 2020)

October 29, 2020 in Aboriginal and Inuit Mining and Oil/Gas, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Mining Conflict and Opposition, Quebec Mining, Uranium and Nuclear Power Industry

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/

The Quebec Cree Nation government says the Supreme Court of Canada’s refusal to consider an appeal in connection with a $200 million lawsuit against the government of Quebec gives more power to Indigenous communities across Canada to stop resource projects in their tracks. It said it also strengthens the legal notion that social acceptability is an essential requirement for developers.

In a decision released Oct. 15, the Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal by Strateco Resources, which sued over Quebec’s 2013 decision to stop a uranium project near the Cree community of Mistissini that didn’t have local or Cree Nation government support.

Both the Quebec Superior Court and the Quebec Court of Appeal upheld the notion that the province was allowed to consider social acceptability in refusing to issue a permit to Strateco’s Matoush Project. Continue Reading →

Howard Balsley, uranium pioneer, preserved the past – by Heila Ershadi (Moab Sun News – March 21, 2019)

October 26, 2020 in International Media Resource Articles, United States Mining History, Uranium and Nuclear Power Industry

https://www.moabsunnews.com/

Howard Balsley is known in history books as a Moab uranium pioneer. In the book “The Moab Story: From Cowpokes to Bike Spokes,” author Tom McCourt writes that Balsley is “considered by many to be the father of the uranium industry in the United States.”

McCourt’s account says that Balsley came to Moab in 1908 and primarily made his living as a forest ranger, but also prospected and assisted others in their mining endeavors, even before the WWII uranium boom.

Balsley contracted with a number of small-scale miners across the Colorado Plateau to regularly make 50-ton shipments of uranium and vanadium ores to the Vitro Manufacturing Company of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Continue Reading →

We Need a Nuclear New Deal, Not a Green New Deal – by Emmet Penney and Adrian Calderon (The Bellows – September 25, 2020)

October 21, 2020 in Climate Change, Carbon Taxes and ENGOs, International Media Resource Articles, Uranium and Nuclear Power Industry

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In July, presidential candidate Joe Biden released his climate and infrastructure plan, “The Biden Plan to Build a Modern, Sustainable Infrastructure and an Equitable Clean Energy Future.”

From the automotive industry, to infrastructure, to addressing racial inequality, to labor protections, to a massive renewable energy build out, Biden aims to remake the American industrial base, right past wrongs, and generate a gobsmacking 10 million “good union jobs” in the process.

For comparison, the Works Progress Administration under the New Deal created 8.5 million jobs. Biden’s capacious plan has raised eyebrows. Some believe it speaks to his “deceptive radicalism;” others rightly point out that he’s “endorsed the Green New Deal in all but name.” Continue Reading →

Rio Tinto-owned company in dispute with Federal Government over Kakadu uranium mine – by Cathy Van Extel and Scott Mitchell (Australian Broadcasting Corporation – October 20, 2020)

October 21, 2020 in Australia/New Caledonia/Papua New Guinea Mining, International Media Resource Articles, Quebec Mining, Rio Tinto, Uranium and Nuclear Power Industry

https://www.abc.net.au/

The Ranger Uranium Mine in Kakadu is looming as the next great test of mining giant Rio Tinto, following the international outcry over the destruction of the 46,000-year-old Juukan caves in the Pilbara.

A subsidiary of Rio Tinto is in dispute with the Federal Government over paying for scientific monitoring of the mine, which is on the edge of world heritage wetlands and will close in January 2021.

Under an agreement with the Federal Government, the site must be rehabilitated by 2026. Continue Reading →

Bruce Power to help explore use of eVinci in Canada (World Nuclear News – October 12, 2020)

October 13, 2020 in International Media Resource Articles, Uranium and Nuclear Power Industry

https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/

Over the next year, the work between Bruce Power and Westinghouse will focus on furthering public policy and the regulatory framework; assessing the economic, social and environmental contribution of the eVinci technology compared to alternatives, such as diesel or other fossil fuels; identifying potential industrial applications; and accelerating the roadmap for Canada to host a demonstration unit as part of the federal small modular reactor action plan.

The eVinci micro reactor is a next-generation, small battery for decentralised generation markets and micro grids such as remote communities, remote industrial mines and critical infrastructure.

It is designed to provide competitive and resilient power and superior reliability with minimal maintenance, and its small size allows for standard transportation methods and rapid, on-site deployment. Continue Reading →

Agreement finalised to reduce US reliance on uranium from Russia – by Mariaan Webb (MiningWeekly.com – October 7, 2020)

October 8, 2020 in Europe Mining, International Media Resource Articles, United States Mining, Uranium and Nuclear Power Industry

https://www.miningweekly.com/

The governments of the US and Russia have finalised a deal extending the limits of uranium imports from Russia for another 20 years, a move which US Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross says will help revitalise the domestic nuclear industry.

The final amendment to the agreement suspending the antidumping investigation on uranium from Russia now extends through 2040. It was previously set to expire on December 31, 2020, which would have resulted in unchecked imports of Russian uranium.

“This landmark agreement will contribute to the revitalisation of American nuclear industry, while promoting America’s long-term strategic interests,” said Ross in a statement on Tuesday. Continue Reading →