The Norwegian government recently sold its $890 million stake in mining giant Rio Tinto, based on the company’s “grossly unethical conduct” at its Grasberg Mine, in Papua New Guinea. Norway’s Ministry of Finance made the decision after realizing that continued investment in Rio Tinto would “contribute to severe environmental damage.”
Read more: Large Rio Tinto Shareholder Divests on Ethical Grounds
Since opening its McArthur River uranium mine, in 1999, Cameco Corporation has become a global leader in uranium production and groundwater contamination. Over the past decade, Cameco has been criticized for mine collapses, extensive groundwater contamination, major uranium and cyanide spills, and transportation accidents - most recently in Nebraska, Wyoming and Saskatchewan….
“A lack of relevant knowledge about faults and fractures”
The Oglala Sioux Nation, along with the Western Nebraska Resources Coalition, Owe Aku/Bring Back the Way, the Clean Water Advocacy Project, Rock the Earth, and other petitioners are filing a legal claim against Crow Butte Resources (CBR), a subsidiary of Cameco. The petitioners maintain that CBR’s in-situ uranium operations, near the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, are contaminating the Brule, Arikaree and High Plains aquifers, a major source of freshwater stretching from Texas to South Dakota that supplies irrigatable water for growing vegetables, grains and raising livestock. The Crow Butte mine currently produces roughly 800,000 pounds of uranium “yellowcake”, yearly, which is used for power generation in Canada.
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