Tag Archives: France

China, etc., mining uranium in Niger and Mali

A commenter on
Mali: a French War for Uranium
suggested that if "that zone" (presumably
the Sahara in Mali and Niger)
were such an El Dorado the U.S. and the Chinese would have long been interested.
Actually, it turns out numerous countries are involved, especially along
the
Uranium Highway in the Uranium Province in Niger.
Not the Americans so much, but definitely the Chinese.



According to

World Information Service on Energy Uranium Project,
in

Mali, it's the Canadians (Cascade Resources Ltd.,
Northern Canadian Uranium Inc., Rockgate Capital Corp.) and
the Australians (Oklo Uranium Ltd).:

The following companies are performing uranium prospection and/or exploration in Mali:


Cascade Resources Ltd. ,
Northern Canadian Uranium Inc. ,
Rockgate Capital Corp. ,
Oklo Uranium Ltd


Faléa uranium/silver project

> View deposit info
Opposition to uranium mining in Faléa: Association des ressortissants et
amis de la Commune de Faléa (ARACF)

Pre-Feasibility study on Faléa mine project started:


On Nov. 15, 2012, Rockgate Capital Corp. announced the commencement of a Pre-Feasibility study on its Faléa U-Ag-Cu project in south-west Mali. Rockgate has engaged the services of the DRA Group of Johannesburg, South Africa to complete the study.

Environmental and social baseline studies commissioned on Faléa mine project:
On April 26, 2010, Rockgate Capital Corp. announced that it has commissioned environmental and social baseline studies on the Faléa Project, Mali.

Apparently Niger has more recoverable Uranium than either the U.S. or Canada;
more than Kazakhstan; more than any country except Australia.




In Niger, it's Russia, Korea, India, and here are a few notes
about Chinese involvement:




Areva ready to give Chinese access to Imouraren uranium mine:

French nuclear giant Areva is ready to open up to a Chinese partner the

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Mali: a French War for Uranium



Google for Mali War in French, and it seems nobody in France is fooled:
France is going to war in Mali for oil, gas, gold and… uranium just across the border in Niger.
Have you ever heard of a war for sunshine or wind?
Let’s get on with solar and wind for energy independence,
including from wars for fuels.

Even Le Monde politely asks the question,

Pourquoi la France intervient-elle au Mali?
Why is France intervening in Mali?

matL : Quels sont les enjeux stratégiques majeurs que présente le Mali, non seulement pour la France mais pour la région entière ? matL : What are the important policy challenges posed by Mali, not only for France but for the entire region?
Les enjeux sur les ressources extractives, à savoir notamment le
pétrole et le gaz sur le site de Taoudenni qui se trouve à cheval sur
trois pays, Mauritanie, Mali et Algérie. Ensuite, l’uranium puisqu’il
en a été découvert dans l’Adar des Iforas. Mais ces trois ressources
extractives ne sont pas encore en état d’exploitation. En revanche,
le Mali est le troisième producteur d’or sur le continent africain. Ce
sont là les enjeux géostragégiques. 		Issues of extractive resources, notably including oil and gas on the
site Taoudenni which straddles three countries, Mauritania, Mali
and Algeria. Then, since uranium has been discovered in the Adrar
des Iforas. But these three extractive resources are not yet ready to
use. However, Mali is the third largest gold producer in Africa. These
are the geostratigic issues.
S’il y avait implosion du Mali par la prise du pouvoir central par les
groupes armés djihadistes, il y aurait nécessairement des conséquences
négatives sur l’ensemble des pays de la sous-région. 		If there was implosion of Mali by making the central government by armed
groups jihadists, there would have negative consequences for all countries
in the sub-region.
Visiteur : Bonjour, le gisement d’uranium exploité par Areva se trouve
au Niger à quelques centaines de kilomètres à l’est de la zone de
combats. Pensez-vous qu’il existe un lien entre l’intervention et la
protection éventuelle de cette source d’énergie vitale pour la France ? 		Caller: Hello, the uranium deposit is operated by Areva in Niger a few
hundred kilometers east of the combat zone. Do you think there is a link
between the intervention and the possible protection of this vital energy
source for France?
En tout cas, l’hypothèse n’est pas du tout à écarter car il y aura
des conséquences sur l’ensemble de la sous-région. 		In any case, the hypothesis is not at all ruled out
because there will be an impact on the entire sub-region.

Stéphane Lhomme was more blunt in Le nouvel Observateur yesterday,

Guerre au Mali : sécuriser notre approvisionnement en uranium,
War in Mali: secure our provisions of uranium,

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Centralized Nuclear Bad Investment?

A writer for Forbes spells out the question of nuclear investment:
how can something that expensive, over-budget, late, and phenomenally
risky be a good investment, especially when cheaper and faster energy
sources are readily available?

Peter Kelly-Detwiler wrote for Forbes today,

New Centralized Nuclear Plants: Still an Investment Worth Making?



Just a few years ago, the US nuclear renaissance seemed at hand. It
probably shouldn’t have been. Cost overruns from Finland to France
to the US were already becoming manifest, government guarantees were
in doubt, and shale gas drillers were beginning to punch holes into
the ground with abandon.

Then came Fukushima. The latter proved a somewhat astonishing
reminder of forgotten lessons about nuclear power risks, unique to
that technology: A failure of one power plant in an isolated


location can create a contagion in countries far away, and even
where somewhat different variants of that technology are in use.
Just as Three Mile Island put the kaibosh on nuclear power in the US
for decades, Fukushima appears to have done the same for Japan and
Germany, at a minimum. It certainly did not help public opinion, and
at a minimum, the effect of Fukushima will likely be to increase
permitting and associated regulatory costs.

He goes into detail: they take too long (while gas and solar got cheaper),
they’re extremely expensive to build and run, and they’re all-or-nothing
investments.

I was going to compile this list of recent nuclear financial failures,
but he saves us all the trouble:

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