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local woman collecting drinking water from a stream near the mine site
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last update: Jul 12, 2010
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printKayelekera Uranium mine - Malawi location
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Charles Roche, Mineral Policy Institute, Australia working partners
Reinford Mwangonde, Citizens for Justice (CFJ), Malawi sector
mining
description
The Kayelekera Uranium Mine in Malawi, Central Africa is a project developed by Australian company Paladin Energy Ltd. (formerly Paladin Resources Ltd.) for the first uranium development in the small central African nation. At full output, Kayelekera is forecast to produce 3.3m lbs (ca. 1500 metric tonnes) of U3O8 using acid leach, resin-in-pulp technology. current status (Apr 22, 2008)
In February 2008 Paladin announced that it has received financing totalling US$167M, consisting of a 7 year Project Finance Facility of US$145M, a Standby Cost Overrun Facility of US$12M and a Performance Bond Facility of US$10M from Societe Generale, Nedbank Capital and Standard Bank. companies involved
companies
Paladin Energy Ltd. (formerly Paladin Resources Ltd., henceforth "Paladin") is an Australian based mineral resources and development company. Paladin's primary focus is on identifying, acquiring, evaluating and developing uranium assets. The shares of Paladin are listed on stock exchanges in (Australian Stock Exchange), (Toronto Stock Exchange) and (Munich, Berlin, Stuttgart and Frankfurt Stock Exchanges). dodgy aspects
social impact
Uranium mining is a hazardous activity that poses long-term risks to people's health, life and livelihood, even when strictly regulated and managed. The Kayelekera project has failed to put in place appropriate measures to safeguard local populations, who are reliant on the environment, including water resources that could be affected by Paladin's operations for livelihood and subsistence. The radiation hazards posed by the operation to workers and the general public have not been appropriately quantified, and appropriate measures to limit these risks have not been adopted. The development agreement signed with the Malawian government has been subject to concern by Malawian groups for its potential to negatively impact access to water and electricity for local people, for trading tax excemptions for arangements that don't guarantee national benefits sharing, and for potential limits on the ability to deveop new legislation to address gaps in the current regulatory frameworks. Other areas of irresponsible conduct are: Destruction of Cultural Heritage Failure to commit to respecting domestic laws of acceptable practices Use of Intimidation and Threatening Tactics against Local Civil Society environment
Major Flaws, Gaps and Inadeqacies in Environmental Impact Assessment and Project Design An independent review of the environmental impact statement undertaken by Australian scientists identified major flaws, omission and inadequacies in both assesssment and project design. human rights
Paladin’s executive Director John Borshoff said “The Australians and the Canadians have
become over-sophisticated in their environmental and social concerns, the future is in Africa” reported by Melbourne herald sun, 3rd April, 2006. This raises questions as to whether Paladin will exercise due-diligence during its operations in Africa. gender aspects
Paladin’s gender policy is yet to come out clear. In 2007, it fired a single woman who pregnant and was not allowed to return to work after labour. There is need for Paladin to exercise universal treatment on gender and other issues. other issues The Government of Malawi is currently in the process of putting in place a uranium mining legislation as the country has none. Its unfortunate that Paladin is laying its hands on this process and the company is advocating for a self-regulating uranium mining legislation which allows the company to dispose of hazardous effluents into the river systems and the environment, it allows the company to apply for abandonment of the mine and the legislation has no stiffer penalties for any breach of environmental laws in Malawi. Paladin has argued that the Malawi government has no expertise in this field, hence the need for support from Paladin. financial institutions involved
banks
Dundee Bancorp
National Bank of Canada
export credit agencies
investment funds
applicable policies
Equator Principles should apply to this project.
Initial investigations indicate breaches of the Equator Principles across a range of standards and safeguards polices, including: Major breaches include:
what must happen
The project current breaches the Equator Principles on both environmental and social grounds, and should not be considered or funded by the financial sector until the range of outstanding considerations are addressed.
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