NEWS ARCHIVE

November 2000

POTOMAC SEPARATES MD. MINERS, W.VA. COAL TUNNEL PLAN RAISES WATER-QAULITY ISSUES

The Baltimore Sun EnviroLink Service 29 November 2000 - A Garrett County mining company wants to tunnel under the North Branch of the Potomac River to get at coal deposits in West Virginia, raising concerns from environmentalists and regulators in that state about the impact on a nationally treasured waterway that is still suffering from past mining abuses. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

GROUP THREATENS SUIT OVER WEST VIRGINIA'S ABANDONED MINE RECLAMATION PROGRAM

Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News via EnviroLink Service 29 November 2000 - Another citizens group has threatened to sue state and federal regulators over West Virginia's abandoned mine reclamation program. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

HEAVY-METALS REPORT RELEASED

EnviroLink Service 29 November 2000 - A final version of a 1996 state and federal study into lead and cadmium exposure in the Silver Valley was released recently by the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

11 KILLED, 40 MISSING IN INNER MONGOLIA COAL MINE EXPLOSION

Kyodo via NewsEdge Corporation - 28 November 2000 - Eleven miners were killed, 12 injured and 40 others are missing in a coal-mine gas explosion Saturday in northern China's Inner Mongolia administrative region, the official news agency Xinhua reported Monday. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT TO REQUIRE ALL MINERS TO GUARANTEE CLEAN-UP OF LAND

Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News via EnviroLink Service 28 November 2000 - The Bureau of Land Management is changing its rules, requiring that even small-scale hardrock miners on federal claims guarantee they can clean up any mess they might leave. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

UNEP SPOTLIGHTS TOP 50 CORPORATE SUSTAINABILITY REPORTS

Environmental News Network - 28 November 2000 - In response to increasing worldwide concern about corporate responsibility and accountability, leading companies are beginning to report comprehensively on their economic, social and environmental principles, vision and performance. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

MINING INDUSTRY: BLM IMPOSES NEW RULES FOR PUBLIC LAND

The Las Vegas Review via EnviroLink Service 23 November 2000 - Long-awaited environmental regulations for hard-rock mining on public lands were published this week by the Bureau of Land Management, generating criticism from both mining advocates who call them too strict and environmentalists unhappy with a key concession to industry. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

ANOTHER CITIZEN GROUP THREATENS TO BRING MINE

Environmental News Network (ENN) - 27 November 2000 - The Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition (OVEC) filed notice last week that it intends to sue state and federal mining regulatory agencies over their failure to enforce bonding provisions of federal surface mining laws. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

URANIUM MINING IN AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL PARK CHALLENGED

Lycos News (ENS) - 27 November 2000 - A dormant struggle over uranium mining in Australia's Kakadu National Park is reawakening, as UNESCO's World Heritage Committee gathers for its annual meeting in this north Queensland resort city from today through December 2. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

10 DIE IN CHINA MINE BLAST

The Associated Press via NewsEdge Corporation - 27 November 2000 - A gas explosion ignited by sparks from a switch killed 10 people and severely injured another four at an illegal coal mine in southern China, the state-run Xinhua News Agency said Friday. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

ENFORCEMENT KEY TO COAL MINING SAFETY

China Daily Publication via EnviroLink Service - 25 November 2000 - The first national regulation on coal mine safety may encounter some setbacks in its implementation, a senior official said. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

KENYA MINING PROJECT BRINGS CRITICISM IN SPADES

REUTERS NEWS SERVICE - 22 November 2000 - In the shade of an orange grove, two old men sit in amicable silence as a dog stretches lazily at their feet. This is John Nyamai's farm, a few acres of fruit trees and maize fields on a gentle hill with the Indian Ocean stretching across the eastern horizon. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

NEW MINING RULES PROTECT FEDERAL LAND GOVERNMENT SAYS THEY COULD COST INDUSTRY UP TO $484 MILLION AND 6,100 NEW JOBS

USA TODAY - 22 November 2000 - Strict new rules published Tuesday by the Clinton administration are expected to reduce the environmental damage of mining on federal land in the West but also result in 5% to 30% less mining activity, the government estimates. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

AUSTRALIA MINES GREEN IDEAS FOR MINERALS

Environmental News Network - 22 November 2000 - Astralia's minerals and energy sector must aim for a policy of zero emissions and zero waste by 2020 if the nation expects to enjoy the living standards and prosperity that flow from it, according to one of Australia's leading earth scientists. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

SURFACE MINING RULES REWRITTEN

Lycos News (ENS) - 22 November 2000 - The U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) today published a new set of surface mining rules that the agency says will better protect public health, public land resources and the environment. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

PLANS FOR ALASKA GOLD MINE DON'T PAN OUT

Anchorage Daily News via Environmental News Network - 19 November 2000 - Alaska Plans to open the Kensington Gold Mine north of Juneau are postponed due to a cold response from federal environmental regulators to a proposal to dump tailings into a headwater lake, a spokesman for the mining company said. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

UEMOA ADOPTS JOINT MINING POLICY

Africa News Service via EnviroLink Service - 19 November 2000 - Dakar, Senegal (PANA) - Mining Ministers of the Economic and Monetary Union of West Africa (UEMOA), adopted a draft joint mining policy (PMC) at the end of their second meeting in Dakar Friday. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

REMOVE MERCURY STOCKS

Bangor Daily News Bangor via EnviroLink Service - 18 November 2000 - In order to eliminate any confusion between fact and partisanship, I have waited until after the election to write this commentary. I am writing about HoltraChem Inc. in Orrington and concern over the fate of approximately 260,000 pounds of elementary mercury on the premises. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

EPA HEARS SUPPORT FOR EXPANSION OF SUPERFUND WASHINGTON WANTS FEDERAL HELP IN CLEANING UP MINING POLLUTION

The Spokesman Review via EnviroLink Service - 18 November 2000 - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has a legal green light to tap federal Superfund dollars to scrub a century of mining pollution from the Spokane River, Washington state and federal officials said at a Spokane hearing Tuesday night. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

Title: World First Mine Tailings Dam Clean-up in Australia
Source: Virotec International, Australia
Sent by: Nigel Kassulke, Telephone (07) 5530 8014 E-mail ntk@virotec.com

Details

Queensland environmental technology company, Virotec International, is releasing treated water from a 14.5-hectare 1.5 billion litre mine tailings dam which the company�s new technology has cleaned of heavy metals and Acid Mine Drainage (1).

The tailings dam (2) at the Mt Carrington mine in northern News South Wales was considered one of that State�s most urgent environmental problems as it sits in the catchment of the Clarence River.

Polluted mine drainage and pit lakes continue to be the mining industry�s worst and most enduring legacies as evidenced when 100,000 tonnes of cyanide-tainted water burst through a breach in a tailings dam in Romania in January this year. This failure was blamed for killing fish and livestock in Romania, Hungary, and Yugoslavia and spread 600 km south into the River Danube.

Dr David McConchie, Professor of Geochemical Engineering in the School of Resource Science and Management and First Personal Chair at Southern Cross University, affirmed that the cleaned water meets the most stringent Australian and New Zealand Environment and Conservation Council water quality guidelines for the Protection of Aquatic Ecosystems. (3)

The cleaned water is being released at the rate of one million litres per day. There is no longer a risk of contaminated water from the tailings dam overflowing into the Clarence River Catchment during heavy rain.

"I�ve seen and studied many of the world�s worst acid mine drainage problems and this is the first time in the world that such a large body of water contaminated with Acid Mine Drainage and heavy metals (4) has been cleaned to such strict environmental standards using a commercially viable, cost effective technology," Prof McConchie, who is also Virotec�s Chief Scientific Consultant, says. (5)

"The Virotec technology (6) has tackled one of New South Wales� worst environmental problems, the 10-year-old Mt Carrington tailings dam, and the clean water can now be gradually released into the Clarence River catchment."

The new Virotec technology, trademarked as Bauxsol, is derived from bauxite refinery residues.

Professor McConchie said the chemistry of Bauxsol treatment involved a number of complex chemical reactions.

"Bauxsol modifies the pH of the water and simultaneously creates a change in the speciation of metals that then promotes their removal to the solids.

"Once the metals start to move to the solids they are removed from the water by the precipitation of new minerals and once precipitated into these mineral phases they are no longer available to the environment.

"I have worked with Virotec during the clean-up to verify the scientific data and consolidate treatment protocols � how to apply the Bauxsol, how much and how long it takes � so the technology can readily be applied to a host of other environmental problems," Professor McConchie said.

Virotec�s scientists are monitoring the cleaned and released water and the aquatic eco-systems of nearby Sawpit and Plumbago Creeks and early reports indicate a substantial improvement in water quality.

A Woodward Clyde report, DRAKE REGION � PLUMBAGO CREEK CATCHMENT STUDY (Sept 1994) is which local water quality was evaluated indicated Zinc metal readings as high as 25,000 parts per billion in Sawpit Creek and 400 parts per billion in Plumbago Creek.

"These water courses have been affected by years of acidic drainage. Mining caused some of this leaching but the area has naturally high, intrinsic zinc values," Prof McConchie said.

"Since we started the controlled release of the cleaned water, with a zinc component less than 50 parts per billion we have begun to flush the watercourses. Not just zinc but a wide range of trace metals.

Prof McConchie said Virotec welcomed the participation of government regularity authorities in the monitoring and who are conducting due diligence into Virotec technology.

FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT Nigel Kassulke Telephone (07) 5530 8014 E-mail ntk@virotec.com

NOTES

1. Acid Mine Drainage (referred to in North America as Acid Rock Drainage) occurs when sulfidic materials are exposed, through mining or other development activities, to oxygen and water. Water seeping through tailings dams, waste rock, or acid sulphate soils, carries acid into streams making the waters highly acidic. It may also contaminate ground water. Acid Mine Drainage kills plants and animals and inhibits bacterial decay of organic matter in water thus allowing large quantities of organic matter to build up in streams. The sulfuric acid also leaches toxic elements such as aluminium, copper, zinc, lead, arsenic, and cadmium. US mines produce about 2.7 million metric tons of acid a year and Acid Mine Drainage pollutes over 26,000 kilometres of streams. A similar problem exists throughout the world.

2. Tailings dams are the most common devices for containing mine waste. Tailings disposal is a dangerous business with breaches of tailings dams occurring with unwelcome regularity. Tailings dams are serious problems �not only because the dams can collapse when the mine is active but also because they stay behind when the mine closes.

3. The Australian and New Zealand Environment and Conservation Council (1992) recommends water quality guidelines for: aquatic ecosystems; drinking water; recreational water; industrial and agricultural water. The guidelines for aquatic ecosystems (Schedule A) are the most stringent.

4. Heavy metals removed from the Mt Carrington project include; aluminium, cadmium, copper, iron, lead, nickel, and zinc. pH levels lifted from 5.2 to 7.26 milligrams per litre. Concentrations of other environmentally important components; silver, arsenic, chromium, nickel, selenium, mercury; were near or below target values before treatment and were reduced further by Bauxsol treatment.

5. Prof McConchie went to government to further his research but was turned down three times. Putting his money where his month is after a lifetime of research Prof McConchie is a Virotec director. He is regarded amongst his academic peers as one of the world�s foremost authorities on the problem of Acid Mine Drainage. He was a finalist in the Australian Eureka Prize for environmental research in 1995 and 1996.

6. Virotec holds the license for the worldwide marketing and distribution rights to its Bauxsol technology.
For the Scientific Report, click here

B.C. MINE'S TOXIC LEGACY BACK TO HAUNT OPERATORS

Lycos News (ENS) - 17 November 2000 - Next month, 26 years after the Britannia Mine received its first pollution abatement notice, the British Columbia government will name the parties responsible for cleaning up what Environment Canada calls the worst point source of metals pollution in North America. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

MALAYSIA SHOULD LOOK TO MINERAL MINING OPPORTUNITIES/ MINISTER

Asia Pulse via NewsEdge Corporation 17 November 2000 - The presence of some 30 non-oil minerals in Malaysia provides ample opportunities for the industry's development along economic and sustainable lines. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

US BACKS NATIVE AMERICAN TRIBE IN GOLD MINE DISPUTE

Agence France Presse via NewsEdge Corporation - 16 November 2000 - A Native American tribe trying to block an open-pit gold mine on land it considers sacred has won a tentative victory, federal officials said Friday. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

CHINA: XINHUA CARRIES REGULATIONS ON SUPERVISION OF COAL MINE SAFETY

BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific via EnviroLink Service 16 November 2000 - Text of report by official Chinese news agency Xinhua (New China News Agency)

STATE LEADERS CALL FOR CLEANUP

The Columbian via EnviroLink Service - 15 November 2000 - Many of Washington's top political leaders urged the federal government Tuesday to take the lead in cleanup of mining wastes in northern Idaho that are traveling down the Spokane River into this state. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

RULES FOR SUPERVISION OVER SAFETY IN COAL MINES ISSUED

Xinhua News Agency via EnviroLink Service - 15 November 2000 - To increase the safety in coal mines as well as regulate the supervision over safety in coal mines, China's State Council has issued a regulation concerning safety in coal mines. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

CITIZENS GROUP LAWSUIT SEEKS ACTION TO FUND WEST VIRGINIA STRIP MINE CLEANUP

Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News via EnviroLink Service 15 November 2000 - Taxpayers could be forced to pay millions of dollars to clean up abandoned strip mines in West Virginia because state regulators require insufficient reclamation bonds, a citizens group said in a lawsuit filed Tuesday. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

INDEPENDENT SAFETY STAFF EARMARKED FOR COAL MINES

EnviroLink Service 15 November 2000 - Independent safety officers are to be introduced to China's coal mines, and anyone who fails to report or interferes with the investigation of mining accidents may face criminal charges, the State Council has stipulated in new regulations. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

DENMARK MOVES TO CUT LEAD CONSUMPTION BY ONE-THIRD DENMARK

Planet Ark - 15 November 2000 - Denmark will prohibit the use of lead in a range of products, aiming to reduce annual consumption by one-third over the next few years, the Ministry of Environment and Energy said in a statement yesterday. Further information can be obtained from the news article or Lycos News.

VILLAGERS MARCH TO WWI BATTLEFIELD TO PROTEST AUSTRALIAN GOLD MINE

AP World News via NewsEdge Corporation - 15 November 2000 - Turks protesting plans by an Australian company to use cyanide to mine gold near their village have set off on a protest march to a World War I battlefield where Ottoman Turks fought Australian soldiers, the Anatolia news agency reported Tuesday. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

DEATH TOLL IN CHINA'S WORST COAL MINE ACCIDENT HITS 162

AP World News via NewsEdge Corporation - 14 November 2000 - Poor safety and bad management at a struggling state-owned coal mine in southern China led to the deaths of 162 miners in an explosion nearly two months ago, the state-run China Youth Daily reported Monday. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

OLD MERCURY MINES CONTAMINATE CALIFORNIA WATERS

Lycos News (ENS) - 10 November 2000 - Dozens of inoperative mercury mines in the Coast Ranges of California have been identified as a major source of mercury pollution in bodies of water such as San Francisco Bay. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

ENVIRONMENT STILL KEY ISSUE FOR HUNGARY, EU SAYS

Planet Ark - 10 November 2000 - Slow progress on making Hungarian environmental codes conform to European Union standards is one of the main hurdles to membership for one of the best accession students, EU officials said yesterday. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

CYANIDE LEAK AT GEORGIAN GOLD PRODUCER 'NORMALIZED'

RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 4, No. 218, Part I, 9 November 2000 - Georgian presidential representative in eastern Georgia Levan Mamaladze said on 8 November that a cyanide leak at the Georgian-Australian gold-producing joint venture in Madneuli was halted before the poison reached the nearby River Mashvera, which is a tributary of the Kura, Caucasus Press reported. He ruled out any large-scale ecological damage as a result of the leak.

LEAD/ CHINESE COAL MINE EXPLOSION KILLS 13, TRAPS 18

Kyodo via NewsEdge Corporation - 07 November 2000 - A gas explosion in a coal mine in northeast China's Jilin Province has killed 13 miners and left 18 others missing and believed trapped underground, the official China Daily reported Tuesday. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

TWO KILLED IN POLISH COAL MINE ACCIDENTS

AP World News via NewsEdge Corporation - 06 November 2000 - Two miners were killed in accidents within 24 hours in coal mines in the southern Polish industrial district of Silesia, the state mining authority said Friday. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

MINERS TRAPPED IN CHINA BLAST

BBC News - 06 November 2000 - Thirty-one coal miners are trapped underground following a gas explosion in north-east China. Two people have been rescued and an operation to retrieve the others is underway. It is not known if they are dead or alive. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

LETHARGY OVER MINERAL POLICY

The New Straits Times via EnviroLink Service 04 November 2000 - The regulations are in place and a conducive stage has been set for them to attract investments, yet several states are sitting on a wealth of mineral resources, including gold, which they have not exploited. Inertia appears to be the biggest problem. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

UNEP ASSESSMENT TEAM TO VISIT DEPLETED URANIUM SITES IN KOSOVO

UNEP - 03 November 2000 - The United Nations Environment Programme is sending a team of experts to Kosovo to assess the impact of ordnance containing depleted uranium (DU) used during last year�s Balkans conflict. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

THIRTEEN CHINESE COAL MINERS DIE IN FIRE

Agence France Presse via NewsEdge Corporation 03 November 2000 - Thirteen Chinese coal miners died when a fire broke out in a mine in eastern Jiangxi province, local officials said on Thursday.The blaze erupted in Pinghu coal mine about 60 kilometers (38 miles) south of the provincial capital of Nanchang early Wednesday, trapping 36 miners, according to an official at Fengcheng Mining Industry Bureau. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

FEDS, ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS DIFFER ON COAL MINING REMEDY

Lycos News (ENS) - 03 November 2000 - A devastating mining accident that spewed some 250 million gallons of liquefied coal waste into Kentucky's Big Sandy River last month has evoked dissimilar responses from a federal regulatory agency and the Sierra Club. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

CHINESE LEADER WU BANGGUO VISITS SHANXI COAL MINES

BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific via EnviroLink Service 02 November 2000 - Text of report by reporter Shi Zheng: "Wu Bangguo inspects coal enterprises and handles official business on the spot in Datong, Shanxi Province, and urges making persistent efforts, advancing in spite of difficulties, and unceasingly creating new situation in reform, development in coal industry" by official Chinese news agency Xinhua (New China news agency). Further information can be obtained from the news article.

DENVER BASED MINING COMPANY CONTAMINATES PERUVIAN VALLEY

Denver Post via NewsEdge Corporation: ** NOTE: TRUNCATED STORY ** - 02 November 2000 - When Newmont Mining Corp. arrived in this mountain valley eight years ago, Julio Marin was a supporter.Marin and others hoped the company's open-pit gold mine would bring jobs and prosperity to one of Peru's poorest regions, about 400 miles north of Lima. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

DR. MICHEL BATISSE, FRENCH SCIENTIST WINS PREMIER UNITED NATIONS ENVIRONMENT PRIZE

UNEP - 01 November 2000 - The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) announced today that this year�s UNEP Sasakawa Environment Prize has been awarded to noted French scientist, Dr. Michel Batisse, for his outstanding contributions to the conservation of the earth�s natural resources, the protection of the terrestrial and marine environment and the promotion of sustainable development. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

UNEP ASSESSMENT TEAM TO VISIT DEPLETED URANIUM SITES IN KOSOVO

THIRTEEN CHINESE COAL MINERS DIE IN FIRE