RE: uranium mine spill/in-situ leach mining

["Jim Otton" <jkotton@usgs.gov>]

Thomas, Radsafers,



In-situ leach mining of uranium has occurred in the United States for a few

decades and continues today.  The Wyoming Mining Association webpage has a

uranium mining link which, in turn, has an in-situ uranium mine link.  (I

would give the URL but the Radsafe webmaster kicks it back to me when I try

to show URLs, try searching on "Wyoming Mining Association").  The opening

page of the uranium in-situ mine webpage is a summary of the current mining

situation, the left-hand side shows many additional links on the topic.



Jim Otton

Environmental Geology of Radionuclides





-----Original Message-----

From: owner-radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu

Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2002 10:25 AM

To: radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu

Subject: uranium mine spill





Does the US use in situ mining? Anyway this may be of interest to some - Tom



JANUARY 23, 09:42 ET

Australia Probes Radioactive Spills



By EMMA TINKLER

Associated Press Writer



SYDNEY, Australia (AP)  Officials investigating a large spill of

radioactive waste at a uranium mine in the Australian outback found there

have been 24 other leaks at the site.



Details of the leaks, which were not publicly disclosed at the time, have

prompted the South Australian state government to review reporting

procedures of all such spills, officials told The Associated Press on

Wednesday. The officials said the leaks were not considered harmful to the

public.



Earlier this month, some 15,600 gallons of radioactive fluid leaked from a

pipe at the Beverley uranium mine, 370 miles north of the state capital,

Adelaide. The spill was not publicly disclosed until more than 24 hours

later.



Mine operator, Heathgate Resources, said the liquid was composed of salty

ground water, sulfuric acid, uranium and oxygen and was ``naturally

radioactive.'' A spokesman, Stephen Middleton, said the spill was contained

in a drain surrounding the complex and had posed no threat to the

environment, the public or mine workers.



The Jan. 11 spill brought calls from environmentalists for the closure of

the mine, located in an isolated, sparsely populated desert area.



A full report into the spill and conditions under which the Beverley mine

could resume commercial operations would be released later this week, said a

spokeswoman for the South Australia state mines minister.



Investigations after the spill found there have been 24 other leaks at the

mine over the last two years, three of which were listed as more than 520

gallons, government officials said. All the spills were considered minor and

were not harmful to the public.



Heathgate Resources, a subsidiary of the San Diego-based General Atomics,

underlined that the spills caused no environmental damage.



``People are making great issue that there were 24 spills but they had no

environmental or occupational health and safety consequences. It's

unnecessarily alarmed a large number of people,'' Heathgate vice president

Stephen Middleton told The Associated Press.



But concerned that the leaks went little noticed for so long, the state

government will review the system for reporting radioactive spills at

uranium mines, said a spokeswoman for state Mines Minister Wayne Matthew.



Heathgate Resources fulfilled its obligations by informing mines inspectors

of the leaks, Middleton said.



The mines ministry said the rules should be revised to require that more

senior officials be notified.



Under the current system, ``we have technical experts who assess the level

or risk from any incidents, but it's the government's view that ministers

also need to be advised every time there is one of these incidents,'' the

spokeswoman said.



Heathgate Resources welcomed the review of reporting procedures, which it

said are ``severe in the extreme.''



``We believe that a better solution might be to establish a reporting

procedure that classifies spills not only on the numbers and the size of

them but on the environmental consequences,'' Middleton said.



Environmental groups said the spills pose dangers to workers and the

underground water supply and have called for the mine to be closed.



Australian Conservation Foundation spokesman Dave Sweeney said the technique

used at the mine, known as in situ leach or ISL and involving pumping acid

underground, was not approved in any other of the major industrialized

nations and had in the past caused serious pollution in eastern Europe.



``The Beverley mine is fundamentally unsustainable both in the product it's

mining and the way it's doing it,'' Sweeney told The Associated Press.













---

Tom Savin





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