SUSTAINABLE MINING

Environmental bond may help Paladin silence anti-mining NGOs on Malawi uranium project

Post uranium mining concerns at Paladin’s Kayelekera project in northern Malawi have been addressed following the introduction of an environmental bond that will see the miner put aside funds to cater for environmental damage that may follow mining activities.

BLANTYRE - Paladin Energy Limited (ASX:PDN, A$4.71 a share) has moved in fast to silence the remaining small pockets of resistance at its Kayelekera Uranium project by coming up with an environmental bond that will see the company save funds to cater for any environmental damage the extraction of uranium ore may cause.

Opponents to uranium mining - especially the Civil Society Organizations (CBOs) who dragged the miner to court - have been arguing that the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report issued by Paladin Energy early last year was unscientific and did not address issues of health - how the company would protect people working on the mine and those living in surrounding areas from radiation exposure which might lead to cancer, deformity and skin problems.

The CBOs tore into the EIA report saying it failed to include studies of both sufficient scientific quality and length of environmental monitoring to make a credible case for assessing the extent of the environmental impacts from the uranium project. The CBOs were further incensed that Paladin proposed to leave the tailings above ground instead of depositing them back into a former open cut or even underground mine as is the standard in Australia - the company's headquarters.

According to the Anti-Nuclear Alliance of West Australia, the most serious health hazard associated with uranium mining is lung cancer due to inhaling uranium decay products. Uranium mill tailings contain radioactive materials, notably radium-226 and heavy metals - manganese and molybdenum - which can leach into groundwater. What happens to tailings after the mining companies have left the site is said to pose major headaches for the future.

But addressing Members of Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources who toured the mine last week, the Minister of Transport and Public Works, who until last Friday was the Minister of Mines, Henry Chimunthu Banda, said Paladin will open an account with one of the banks in Malawi with an amount that will be quantified yearly.

He said the amount would be expected to increase gradually depending on the environmental damage uranium mining will cause to areas surrounding the Kayelekera mine..

"The idea is that at any time the mine closes, there has to be money to address environmental issues," Banda is quoted by The Nation Newspaper as telling the Committee.

As regards people's safety, the bond government has signed with Paladin entails that at the time of entry into the mine, every worker has to undergo medical check up and records have to be kept and verified by government.

"The workers will also go for check up periodically and the results will be compared with the outcome of the first check up to see whether their stay in the mine had an effect on their health," he said.

Kayelekera will be the second uranium mine after Langer Heinrich Uranium mine operated by Paladin, which will list on the Namibian Stock Exchange (NSX) on Thursday, February 14, according to a statement signed by the company's Managing Director John Borshoff.