30m World Bank loan to improve Argentine mining environmental remediation

World Bank loan will assist Argentina in remediating old mining sites, with particular emphasis on closed uranium mines.

Author: Dorothy Kosich
Posted: Monday , 04 Aug 2008

RENO, NV -

The World Bank will give a $30 million loan to Argentina's Comision Nacional de Energia Atomica (CNEA) to remediate closed uranium mines; a step the bank hopes will improve the nation's ability to manage environmental risks in the mining sector as a whole.

The bank's Mining Environmental Restoration Program will finance the Argentina Mining Environmental Restoration Project including remediation of the closed uranium processing site in close proximity to the municipality of Maralgüe, where 15,000 residents could be directly affected by potential impacts from the site.

While there have been as many as 10 uranium mines in Argentina, the country is not currently producing uranium although there is on-going exploration for the metal. When former President Kirchner's administration presented a plan in 2006 to re-engage Argentina in energy production, it renewed interested in domestic mining. "Therefore, it is likely that the country will re-enter into uranium mining and processing in the near future," according to the World Bank.

CNEA has inventoried eight abandoned uranium mining and milling sites across the country that have residual low-level radioactive wastes including one near the municipality of Malargüe. Concerns include:

(a) Contaminated ground and surface waters and potable water supplies,

(b) Elevated incidence of lung and other cancers, and

(c) Restricted land use and loss of access

Only the Malargüe site has completed the design, consultation, environmental and social assessment, and international validation process that meet World Bank lending requirements. "It is envisaged that the experience garnered from this SIL-technical and procedural, such as the processes for addressing environmental and social issues and mechanisms for public consultation-will help guide the country for its future remediation of the remaining sites and management of possible new sites," said bank officials.

While CNEA has been active in nuclear energy development since the 1950s, it has had little experience with mine closure, the World Bank said. "If World Bank funds were not available, it is probable that CNEA would have difficulty mobilizing internal funding to either complete the works at this site in a timely fashion, or to put in place the required capacity and programs for technical design, environmental consultation and awareness campaigns to address the necessary remediation measures at the other seven sites."

"The remediation and restoration of closed mine sites is a relatively new undertaking in Argentina, therefore there is little experience with mine closure and clean-up," said Pedro Alba, World Bank Country Director for Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay.

The Argentina Mining Environmental Restoration Project will provide technical assistance in three areas:

1) Develop CNEA environmental management capacity to plan and carry out sustainable and technically sound remediation interventions throughout the uranium sector;

2) To support technically, environmentally, and socially responsible planning of the remediation needs of the other seven priority sites across the country; and

3) To introduce concepts of environmental risk management more broadly in the mining sector, including the Secretariat of Environment and Secretariat of Mining.

The World Bank noted that Argentina's mining sector is "currently booming as a result of high commodity prices, competitive exchange rates, sector liberalization, and streamlining of federal and provincial administration procedures. The World Bank is very pleased to support Argentina in improving its management of environmental risks in the mining sector."

The US$30 million fix-spread loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development has a maturity of 30 years including a five-year grace period.