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- Sells regional U.S. retail banking operations to PNC
- Reaffirms U.S. growth strategy to focus on Wealth Management and Capital Markets
- Maintains RBC cross-border banking platform
Royal Bank of Canada (RY on TSX and NYSE) today announced that it is refocusing its U.S. growth strategy by entering into definitive agreements by which RBC will sell its U.S. regional retail banking operations to the PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. (PNC), for approximately US$3.62 billion consisting of US$3.45 billion for the purchase of RBC Bank (USA) and US$165 million for the purchase of related credit card assets. The purchase price is comprised of cash and PNC common stock of up to US$1 billion at PNC's option.
"RBC remains fully committed to the U.S. market and this transaction allows us to focus our U.S. efforts on continuing to grow our two largest U.S. businesses, RBC Wealth Management and RBC Capital Markets," said Gordon M. Nixon, president and chief executive officer, RBC. "In addition, we will maintain our existing cross-border banking platform for current and future clients with a targeted suite of cross-border products and services to meet their needs."
"We have built global capabilities and market-leading businesses in RBC Wealth Management and RBC Capital Markets and are committed to leveraging our strengths to invest in these and other high-return businesses," said Mr. Nixon. "We continue to actively deploy our capital where we believe we can generate the highest returns."
"PNC is a market-leading organization that can build on the recent improvements we have made in operations and effectively serve clients as the market returns to more stable conditions," said Jim Westlake, group head, International Banking and Insurance, RBC. "We are pleased that this is the best outcome for all of our stakeholders."
RBC expects the transaction to result in an estimated loss of C$1.6 billion under Canadian generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) on an after-tax basis, which includes an estimated goodwill write off of C$1.3 billion (C$1.4 billion pre-tax). The estimated loss will be recorded in the current quarter. The purchase price is subject to an adjustment at close for actual net tangible asset value delivered, which is not expected to have a material impact on the loss. All amounts are based on estimates and are subject to change.
Had this transaction taken place as at April 30, 2011, on a pro forma basis, RBC's Tier 1 capital and Tier 1 common equity ratios would have improved by approximately 140 bps and 100 bps respectively. This transaction is expected to be accretive to earnings in 2012. All amounts are based on estimates and are subject to change.
The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approval, and is expected to close in March of 2012.
Maintains RBC Cross-Border Banking Platform
Subject to regulatory approval, RBC will maintain U.S. banking operations to serve the needs of Canadian clients across the U.S. and will continue to provide banking services to RBC Wealth Management and RBC Capital Markets in the U.S.
RBC will continue to offer RBC Access USA® products, including funds transfer between Canada and the U.S., the option of preferred foreign exchange rates and a no fee RBC Royal Bank US Dollar Visa Gold card. Cross-border banking clients will continue to have seamless access to funds and banking products such as mortgages, loans, automated teller machine (ATM) access, U.S. dollar accounts, debit and credit cards and integrated online banking.
RBC's growing global businesses in the U.S.
RBC's growth strategy in the U.S. is focused on RBC Wealth Management and RBC Capital Markets, its two global businesses, which combined have approximately 8,000 employees in the U.S. and almost 17,000 worldwide.
RBC Wealth Management is the fifth largest full-service advisory firm in the U.S. with $220 billion in assets under administration and over 2,000 financial advisors operating across 42 states providing a full service wealth management offering including investments, retirement planning, cash management, credit and lending, insurance, and trust and estate planning to affluent and high net worth domestic and international clients. RBC Wealth Management's operations in the U.S. also include RBC Global Asset Management (U.S.) Inc., which offers equity and fixed income investment solutions to institutional investors throughout the United States.
RBC Capital Markets is the 11th largest global investment bank by fees according to Bloomberg. In the U.S. RBC Capital Markets LLC offers full-service brokerage and investment banking services to individual, institutional, corporate and governmental clients with a product offering that includes: fixed income, equities, equity and debt capital markets, research, municipal finance, futures, M&A and infrastructure finance.
Our focus on growing client relationships through increased sector coverage and extending our loan book has driven strong revenue growth and has established RBC Capital Markets as a top-tier provider of both client and trading focused products and services in the U.S. RBC Capital Markets' U.S. staff has grown by more than 25 percent over the last three years and generates approximately 40 percent of RBC Capital Markets' total revenue.
RBC Capital Markets LLC and J.P. Morgan Securities LLC served as financial advisors to Royal Bank of Canada in this transaction.
Conference Call and Webcast
A conference call and webcast is scheduled for Monday, June 20, 2011 at 8:00 am ET and will feature a presentation by RBC executives.
Interested parties can access the call live on a listen-only basis at: http://www.rbc.com/investorrelations/ir_events_presentations.html or by telephone (416-340-2217 or 1-866-696-5910, Passcode 1284743).
About RBC
Royal Bank of Canada (RY on TSX and NYSE) and its subsidiaries operate under the master brand name RBC. We are Canada's largest bank as measured by assets and market capitalization, and among the largest banks in the world, based on market capitalization. We are one of North America's leading diversified financial services companies, and provide personal and commercial banking, wealth management services, insurance, corporate and investment banking and transaction processing services on a global basis. We employ approximately 79,000 full- and part-time employees who serve close to 16 million personal, business, public sector and institutional clients through offices in Canada, the U.S. and 56 other countries. For more information, please visit rbc.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements contained in this press release may be deemed to be forward-looking statements under certain securities laws, including the "safe harbor" provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and any applicable Canadian securities legislation. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the acquisition of RBC Bank (USA) and related assets, the U.S. retail banking operations of RBC (RBC Bank®), by PNC, and Royal Bank of Canada's expected losses relating to this transaction. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such as "believe", "expect", "foresee", "forecast", "anticipate", "intend", "estimate", "goal", "plan" and "project" and similar expressions of future or conditional verbs such as "will", "may", "should", "could", or "would".
By their very nature, forward-looking statements require us to make assumptions and are subject to inherent risks and uncertainties, which give rise to the possibility that our predictions, forecasts, projections, expectations or conclusions and other forward-looking information, including statements about the acquisition of RBC Bank by PNC and Royal Bank of Canada's expected losses relating to this transaction will not be achieved. We caution readers not to place undue reliance on these statements as a number of important factors could cause our actual results to differ materially from the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements. These factors include, but are not limited to the possibility that the proposed transaction does not close when expected or at all because required regulatory or other approvals are not received or other conditions to the closing are not satisfied on a timely basis or at all, that Royal Bank of Canada or PNC may be required to modify the terms and conditions of the proposed transaction to achieve regulatory approval, or that the anticipated benefits of the transaction are not realized as a result of such things as the strength of the economy and competitive factors in the areas where RBC Bank does business; the impact of changes in the laws and regulations regulating financial services and enforcement thereof (including banking, insurance and securities); judicial or regulatory judgments and legal proceedings; the ability of PNC to complete the transaction; reputational risks, and other factors that may affect future results of RBC. We caution that the foregoing list of important factors is not exhaustive. Additional information about these and other factors can be found in our Q2 2011 Report to Shareholders and 2010 Annual Report.
Except as required by law, Royal Bank of Canada assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements contained in this press release.
For further information:
Media contacts:
Katherine Gay, RBC, 416-974-6286
Tanis Robinson, RBC, 416-955-5172
Analyst contacts:
Josie Merenda, RBC, 416-955-7803
Karen McCarthy, RBC, 416-955-7809


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subset: commoncrawl


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Macro Man was sceptical of the PPIP yesterday and sceptical of the early-doors knee-jerk rally in stocks. He was short. He was wrong. His stop having been executed above 800, he can now sit back and survey the damage to his portfolio. Fortunately, his equity short was appropriately-sized, so the pain has been more intellectual than monetary. He is suffering through one of those irritating periods of correlation breakdown that are the cost of managing money the way that he does. It's frustrating, but hopefully it'll be short-lived.
Macro Man was admonished last night not to repeat his mantra about 6% rallies. Coming so soon after the last 6% rally, there would appear to be little utility in doing so, so he won't. Instead, he'll cue up the Smiths' "Stop Me If You've Hear This One Before". The 23% rally off the recent lows has been impressive, but let's remember that it's the fourth such rally of similar magnitude of the last six months.....many of which have been centered around policy developments. So while he's retreated to the equity market sidelines, nursing his wounds, Macro Man retains a less-than-enthusiastic outlook moving forwards.
The question he has re: the PPIF is not why an asset manager would participate, but rather why a bank would sell assets at a level that would be economically viable for the buyer. While it is true that fund managers will be putting up a small sliver of equity relative to the assets that they can buy, what this means is that if the managers overpay it will take only a small decline in the value of the assets to completely wipe out that equity. If these investments are placed in specially-crafted vehicles, this will encourage them to drive the hardest bargain possible. Would you invest in a fund that has an equal chance of doubling its money or losing all of its equity/ Neither would Macro Man. It will be worth following ABX to see if markets start getting legitimately excited. So far, it's been met with a yawn.
Elsewhere, the debate about the dollar's reserve currency status rages on. A UN panel has suggested a move to a multilateral framework, though why the UN is opining on the matter is open for debate. Most likely because it's the only organization that will give a platform to some of the "experts" quoted in the story, who have made a career out of not udnerstanding the functioning of currency markets.
Still, you can't deny that many of the largest holders of FX reserves, including some of the worst of the serial piss-takers, are getting restless. China appears to be a Huey Lewis fan, as they've recently started playing "I Want A New Drug"* to fuel their FX reserve-buying habit. Now, Macro Man would argue that the current arrangement is useful, insofar as when the limits of economic rationality are pushed to extremes (like having $2 trillion of FX reserves), it provides a built-in disincentive to continue mercantilist behaviour.
Another consideration is that if a new FX reserve currency is going to be managed/arranged through the IMF, there should be some sort of quid pro quo. You know, like oversight of misaligned exchange rates. Such as when a country runs, oh, the largest trade surplus in the world, and offsets more than 100% of it with FX reserve accumulation, as China did in 2008.
When faced with an oversight condition, something tells Macro Man that PBOC will be serendaing the dollar with another Huey Lewis tune....."Stuck With You."
*Thanks to Bobby D for passing this one on.


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But what does it take for a doctor to enter politics? Would you ever consider it, given the drastic changes that are underway in medicine?
By way of background, Dr. Friedman is a general-practice pediatrician in the Northern suburbs of Chicago and holds a faculty teaching appointment with Northwestern Medical School. He is married, has five kids and, like me, is a former Navy veteran (so he can't be all bad).
What prompted you, a physician, to enter politics?
First of all, Wes, thank you for this opportunity. I am a huge fan of yours. Your writing captures the practice of medicine in a way that even a simple country pediatrician like myself can identify with. I have also been influenced in a big way by your frustrations and concerns about health care reform. That's really the reason why I jumped at the chance when you suggested this interview.In regards to your question, I initially became interested in politics because I was very concerned about what was happening with health care. This was back in 2009 and what I knew about health care reform worried me. At that time, I decided - very much on the spur of the moment - to run for U.S. Congress. Although I lost that primary, I made some great political connections and that experience has formed the foundation of my current campaign for the Illinois State Senate. Illinois faces a fiscal crisis of unprecedented scale. If we don't fix the State's fiscal situation, all Illinoisans will be hurt in ways we can't even begin to foresee.
What did you actually have to do to become a political candidate in Illinois? Why a Senate seat as opposed to a one as State Representative? Where does the money come from for such an effort?
The process of becoming a candidate has a number of technical steps. The most critical is the petition process of actually getting your name on the ballot. In Illinois, a prospective candidate for the State Senate must submit between 1000 and 3000 valid signatures to the Illinois Board of Elections. That seems like a lot of signatures until you start gathering them at which point you realize that it is a really really lot of signatures! We were actually one of only two GOP campaigns to submit a full 3000 signatures.After getting your name on the ballot, the campaign comes down to voter contact, name recognition and getting your message out there. The money for this effort comes from from contributions. The amount of time a candidate has to put into raising money from friends, family, and complete strangers is extraordinary. Getting over the reluctance I had in asking people for money was one of the most difficult hurdles I've faced. Now, I'm pretty open about it. If you want things to change, you have to contribute to political campaigns. Without contributions, a political campaign is dead in the water.
What kind of time commitment is there for you to do this? How do you manage family, a practice, and this effort?
Running for office is second full-time job. The only way anyone can manage this process is if they have a very supportive family. My wife is a full partner in this project. It's a sacrifice for me to be this busy, but Michelle and I believe what we are doing is very important. On the professional side, my partners have picked up the slack and will be doing more of that as November comes closer.I chose this particular State Senate seat because I thought it was the best opportunity to have a voice in Springfield. The 29th has been redistricted in a way that makes it very attractive for a candidate like me. In the end, you can only vote on legislation if you are able to win an election.
What words of advice would you give to a doctor who might want to consider entering politics?
Give me a call! Seriously, I've learned a huge amount about the mechanics of running for office and would be happy to discuss them. Also, get involved in your local party organization. Contact your county and township party chairmen. These individuals are usually old political hands and are very eager to welcome newcomers. In my case, my county and township chairmen have become mentors, strong supporters and good friends.
Why are doctors important for politics anyway?
Health care is a huge part of what government does. Here in Illinois, we spend about half of our entire general budget on health care. Despite that, if I'm elected I will literally be the first physician in history elected to the Illinois General Assembly. If physicians care about the future of health care we simply have to begin earning seats on the legislative side of the table. Regardless of party, I believe physician have a very special insight into the needs of our patients and the role of government in health care.
Any ideas as to how you might start to fix the Illinois Medicaid funding crisis?
The current crisis in Illinois Medicaid cannot be exaggerated. Over a relatively brief period of 10 years, the size of Medicaid has doubled. The current yearly cost of Medicaid is approximately $14 billion out of a general state budget of $33 billion. One way to get the cost of Medicaid under control would be to reduce the number of people enrolled. 10 years ago, the number of Illinois Medicaid recipients was approximately 1.4 million. Now, it's 2.7 million. Unfortunately, the federal health care law prohibits significant reductions in our Medicaid rolls. That leaves us with the sort of unsavory reductions in services and reimbursement rates that we saw this year as the only other budgetary solution. Ultimately, the rolls will have to be reduced one way or another due to the unsustainability of the current system. Remember, things that can't continue won't.One last comment. If we were able to get Illinois's economy turned around with a pro-growth and pro-jobs agenda, we would improve the situation a lot. That's because we would then have more taxpayers and more revenue to go around. For that reason and many others, I'm a big advocate of pro-growth policies.
What are your thoughts on tort reform in Illinois, especially given the current political climate?
Remember, Illinois has passed major tort reform legislation three separate times on a bipartisan basis. The only reason these laws are not in effect is that they were overturned by the Illinois Supreme Court. I think there's a developing consensus in Springfield that tort reform should move forward and that it should focus on ideas such as expert witness panels, medical courts, and loser-pays rules. Further, I have been amazed at how many non-medical professionals and business owners are supportive of these changes being applied broadly to Illinois's judicial system. However, the trial lawyers are powerful opponents. They have already contributed significantly to my opponent and I'm sure they will spare no expense to avoid having a physician in the State Senate.
How can doctors who don't want to become candidates themselves still help those who do?
Contribute money, volunteer for a campaign and get your friends involved. The American electoral system rewards those who show up. Pick a candidate who stands for what you believe in and do everything you can to help. Doctors have a reputation being politically apathetic. Honestly, it's somewhat deserved. It is an uncommon physician who contributes regularly to candidates and assists with campaigns. Those who do are highly regarded as advisers and trusted volunteers. Don't underestimate how much our fellow citizens - elected office holders and candidates included - trust and look up to us. If you want to have a very rewarding experience, contribute to and get involved with a political campaign.
Thanks for taking a bit of your precious time, any last thoughts you'd like to share?
I want to reemphasize the importance of getting involved. Three years ago, I was just another spectator throwing pillows at the TV set. Once I made the decision to get involved, I found that I could really have an impact. Regardless of your profession, if you are concerned about the political situation you simply must take it upon yourself to contribute to the dialogue in some way. Whether it be through donating money, volunteering your time or actually running for office, it is your personal responsibility to make your voice heard. Otherwise, it won't be - it's as simple as that.
You can read more about Dr. Friedman's political efforts at his website: http://www.friedmanforsenate.com/


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Richard Sherman could stand to make about $5 million in endorsements -- all because of his 15-second rant moments after helping the Seattle Seahawks get to the Super Bowl.
Sherman, a defensive back, made the play that secured Seattle's 23-17 win over San Francisco on Jan. 19. Immediately after the play, he did a TV interview proclaiming that he was the best cornerback in the National Football League, and dissing the opposing player who he had foiled on the play.
Sherman's agent, Jamie Fritz, told CNNMoney that interest in his clients has boomed since the remarks. While Sherman's current endorsements amount to just a bit more than his $550,000 NFL salary, Fritz believes there are millions in deals that will be signed soon, -- some before the Super Bowl is played Feb. 2.
"We have some new players who have come to the table who are starting the conversation," Fritz said.
The remarks caused an immediate sensation -- positive and negative -- in social media and on sports talk radio, among fans accustomed to bland comments from winning players.
Some advertisers fret about the controversy generated by the rant. But Fritz thinks the rant was more positive than negative for Sherman's image.
Related: Super Bowl ads sneak peak
"I think that he's more likeable," he said. "People love this. The brand managers love this."
Outside experts agree that advertisers are more likely to be attracted by Sherman's new celebrity than scared off by the controversy.
"He's going to be the very hot interview in next couple of weeks. I'm sure you're see someone take advantage of him," said Jordan Schlachter. executive vice president, sports for The Marketing Arm, a firm that arranges endorsement deals.
Related: Richard Sherman tells CNN rant was 'immature,' reaction was 'mind-boggling'
Bob Dorfman, editor of the Sports Marketers Scouting Report and executive creative director of Baker Street Advertising, said that the NFL's defensive players don't get the endorsements that offensive stars such as Denver quarterback Peyton Manning get. So the rant has elevated Sherman in advertisers' eyes.
"I think there are some who will worry because of the way he's not afraid of opening his mouth, eventually he'll say something that really gets him in trouble," said Dorfman. "But a lot of those advertisers don't use athletes anyway
Related: Behind the scenes of Apple's iconic '1984' Super Bowl ad
Sherman, who was his high school's salutatorian graduated from Stanford and started a masters degree there his final year playing football there. Before Sunday's game he had few endorsements. His first two national ads aired during the game -- one for Beats by Dre headphones, the other a Nike (NKE) spot that focused on Kobe Bryant in which Sherman makes a cameo appearance. He also has a regional ad campaign in the Pacific Northwest for Internet service provider CenturyLink (CTL).
Fritz said even if he's not the star of the Super Bowl, he thinks advertisers' interest in his client is now secure.
"Win or lose, I don't think it changes the landscape of opportunities for Richard Sherman this offseason," he said.


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The author seems disappointed that nothing bad happened that he could blame the 2A advocates for, so he was forced to make up hypothetical situations to blame them for.
. Their grand entrance mainly elicited indifference from international and domestic students alike, as well as from the many Athens area residents who attended the popular annual Street Fair.


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Via Jesus' General:
On their way out, Ann throws away her half-consumed hot chocolate, but Mitt approaches the counter. "I know you guys can't sell this again, but I was wondering if one of you guys wanted the rest of my hot chocolate."
"No thanks," one of the other baristas told him, wondering if this was some sort of bizarre joke.
"I don't want to waste it, there's still plenty left, it's still perfectly good..."Got backwash? What's wrong with this guy?!


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This is a great article in National Geographic called Animal Minds.
Certain skills are considered key signs of higher mental abilities: good memory, a grasp of grammar and symbols, self-awareness, understanding others' motives, imitating others, and being creative. Bit by bit, in ingenious experiments, researchers have documented these talents in other species, gradually chipping away at what we thought made human beings distinctive while offering a glimpse of where our own abilities came from. Scrub jays know that other jays are thieves and that stashed food can spoil; sheep can recognize faces; chimpanzees use a variety of tools to probe termite mounds and even use weapons to hunt small mammals; dolphins can imitate human postures; the archerfish, which stuns insects with a sudden blast of water, can learn how to aim its squirt simply by watching an experienced fish perform the task.
I can say that my sheep definitely recognize me over other people — although I think it's my voice, more than anything, that gives me away. However, my sheep do look at my face and make eye contact. Anyway, the article is a worthy read.


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Related Pages
In the last sixty years uranium has become one of the world's most important energy minerals. It is used almost entirely for making electricity, though a small proportion is used for the important task of producing medical isotopes. Some is also used in marine propulsion, especially naval.
Uranium is a naturally occurring element with an average concentration of 2.8 parts per million in the Earth's crust. Traces of it occur almost everywhere. It is more abundant than gold, silver or mercury, about the same as tin and slightly less abundant than cobalt, lead or molybdenum. Vast amounts of uranium also occur in the world's oceans, but in very low concentrations.
Uranium mines operate in some twenty countries, though 58% of world production comes from just ten mines in six countries, these six providing 85% of the world's mined uranium. Most of the uranium ore deposits at present supporting these mines have average grades in excess of 0.10% of uranium – that is, greater than 1000 parts per million. In the first phase of uranium mining to the 1960s, this would have been seen as a respectable grade, but today some Canadian mines have huge amounts of ore up to 20% U average grade. Other mines however can operate successfully with very low grade ores, down to about 0.02% U.
Some uranium is also recovered as a by-product with copper, as at Olympic Dam mine in Australia, or as by-product from the treatment of other ores, such as the gold-bearing ores of South Africa, or from phosphate deposits such as Morocco and Florida. In these cases the concentration of uranium may be as low as a tenth of that in orebodies mined primarily for their uranium content. An orebody is defined as a mineral deposit from which the mineral may be recovered at a cost that is economically viable given the current market conditions. Where a deposit holds a significant concentration of two or more valuable minerals then the cost of recovering each individual mineral is reduced as certain mining and treatment requirements can be shared. In this case, lower concentrations of uranium than usual can be recovered at a competitive cost.
Generally speaking, uranium mining is no different from other kinds of mining unless the ore is very high grade. In this case special mining techniques such as dust suppression, and in extreme cases remote handling techniques, are employed to limit worker radiation exposure and to ensure the safety of the environment and general public.
Searching for uranium is in some ways easier than for other mineral resources because the radiation signature of uranium's decay products allows deposits to be identified and mapped from the air.
Thorium is a possible alternative source of nuclear fuel, but the technology for using this is not established. Thorium requires conversion to a fissile isotope of uranium actually in a nuclear reactor. However, supplies of thorium are abundant, and the element currently has no commercial value. Accordingly, the amount of resource is estimated rather than directly measured as with uranium.
Different Kinds of Mines
Open Pit and Underground Mining
Where orebodies lie close to the surface, they are usually accessed by open cut mining, involving a large pit and the removal of much overburden (overlying rock) as well as a lot of waste rock. Where orebodies are deeper, underground mining is usually employed, involving construction of access shafts and tunnels but with less waste rock removed and less environmental impact. In either case, grade control is usually achieved by measuring radioactivity as a surrogate for uranium concentration. (The radiometric device detects associated radioactive minerals which are decay products of the uranium, rather than the uranium itself.)
At Ranger in north Australia, Rossing in Namibia, and most of Canada's Northern Saskatchewan mines through to McClean Lake, the orebodies have been accessed by open cut mining. Other mines such as Olympic Dam in Australia, McArthur River, Rabbit Lake and Cigar Lake in Northern Saskatchewan, and Akouta in Niger are underground, up to 600 metres deep. At McClean Lake and Ranger, mining will be completed underground.
In Situ Leach (ISL) mining
Some orebodies lie in groundwater in porous unconsolidated material (such as gravel or sand) and may be accessed simply by dissolving the uranium and pumping it out – this is in situ leach (ISL) mining (also known in North America as in situ recovery - ISR). It can be applied where the orebody's aquifer is confined vertically and ideally horizontally. Certainly it is not licensed where potable water supplies may be threatened. Where appropriate it is certainly the mining method with least environmental impact.
ISL mining means that removal of the uranium minerals is accomplished without any major ground disturbance. Weakly acidified groundwater (or alkaline groundwater where the ground contains a lot of limestone such as in the USA) with a lot of oxygen in it is circulated through an enclosed underground aquifer which holds the uranium ore in loose sands. The leaching solution dissolves the uranium before being pumped to the surface treatment plant where the uranium is recovered as a precipitate. Most US and Kazakh uranium production is by this method.
In Australian ISL mines the oxidant used is hydrogen peroxide and the complexing agent sulfuric acid to give a uranyl sulphate. Kazakh ISL mines generally do not employ an oxidant but use much higher acid concentrations in the circulating solutions. ISL mines in the USA use an alkali leach to give a uranyl carbonate due to the presence of significant quantities of acid-consuming minerals such as gypsum and limestone in the host aquifers. Any more than a few percent carbonate minerals means that alkali leach must be used in preference to the more efficient acid leach. In either the acid or alkali leaching method the fortified groundwater is pumped into the aquifer via a series of injection wells where it slowly migrates through the aquifer leaching the uranium bearing host sand on its way to strategically placed extraction wells where submersible pumps pump the liquid to the surface for processing.For very small orebodies which are amenable to ISL mining, a central process plant may be distant from them so a satellite plant will be set up. This does no more than provide a facility to load the ion exchange (IX) resin/polymer so that it can be trucked to the central plant in a bulk trailer for stripping. Hence very small deposits can become viable, since apart from the wellfield, little capital expenditure is required at the mine and remote IX site.
Heap leaching
Some ore, usually very low-grade (below 0.1%U), is treated by heap leaching. Here the broken ore is stacked about 5 to 30 metres high on an impermeable pad and irrigated with acid (or sometimes alkaline) solution over many weeks. The pregnant liquor from this is collected and treated to recover the uranium, as with ISL, usually using ion exchange. After the material ceases to yield significant further uranium, it is removed and replaced with fresh ore. Recoveries are typically 50-80%. The depleted material has the potential to cause pollution so must be emplaced securely so as not to affect surface water or groundwater. Usually this will be in mined-out pits.
Milling and Processing
Conventional mines have a mill where the ore is crushed, ground, and then leached with sulfuric acid to dissolve the uranium oxides. The solution is then processed to recover the uranium.
Most of the ore is barren rock or other minerals which remain undissolved in the leaching process. These solids or 'tailings' are separated from the uranium-rich solution, usually by allowing them to settle out. The remaining solution is filtered and the uranium is recovered in a resin/polymer ion exchange (IX) or liquid ion exchange (solvent extraction - SX) system. The pregnant liquor from ISL or heap leaching is treated similarly.Further treatment for IX involves stripping the uranium from the resin/polymer either with a strong acid or chloride solution or with a nitrate solution in a semi-continuous cycle. The pregnant solution produced by the stripping cycle is then precipitated by the addition of ammonia, hydrogen peroxide, caustic soda or caustic magnesia. SX is a continuous loading/stripping cycle involving the use of an organic liquid (usually a kerosene based product) to carry the extractant which removes the uranium from solution. The uranium is then stripped from the loaded organic liquid using ammonia followed by an ammonia precipitation. The final chemical precipitate is filtered and dried. Peroxide products can be dried at ambient temperatures to produce a product containing about 80% U3O8. Ammonium or sodium diuranate products are dried at high temperatures to convert the product to uranium oxide concentrate - U3O8 - about 85% uranium by mass. This is sometimes referred to as yellowcake, though it is usually khaki.In the case of carbonate leaching the uranyl carbonate can be precipitated with an alkali, eg as sodium or magnesium diuranate. The product is then packed into 200 litre steel drums which are sealed for shipment. The U3O8 is only mildly radioactive (the radiation level one metre from a drum of freshly-processed U3O8 is about half that – from cosmic rays - on a commercial jet flight). In ISL mills the process of uranium recovery is very similar, without the need for crushing and grinding
Tailings management and mine rehabilitation
From open cut mining, there are substantial volumes of barren rock and overburden waste. These are placed near the pit and either used in rehabilitation or shaped and revegetated where they are.
Uranium minerals are always associated with more radioactive elements such as radium and radon in the ore which arise from the radioactive decay of uranium over a few million of years. Therefore, although uranium itself is barely radioactive, the ore which is mined, especially if it is very high-grade such as in some Canadian mines, is handled with some care, for occupational health and safety reasons. Mining methods, tailings and run-off management and land rehabilitation are subject to Government regulation and inspection. For instance in Australia the Code of Practice and Safety Guide: Radiation Protection and Radioactive Waste Management in Mining and Mineral Processing was published in 2005, updating previous versions.Solid waste products from the milling operation are tailings, ranging in character from slimes to coarse sands. They comprise most of the original ore and they contain most of the radioactivity in it. In particular they contain all the radium present in the original ore. At an underground mine they may be first cycloned to separate the coarse fraction which is returned underground and used for underground fill. The balance is pumped as a slurry to a tailings dam, which may be a worked-out pit as at Ranger and McClean Lake, or an engineered structure.When radium undergoes natural radioactive decay one of the products is radon gas. Because radon and its decay products (daughters) are radioactive and because the ground rock comprising the tailings is now on the surface, measures are taken to minimise the emission of radon gas. During the operational life of a mine the material in the tailings dam is often kept covered by water to reduce surface radioactivity and radon emission (though with lower-grade ores neither pose a hazard at these levels). This water needs to be recycled or evaporated since it contains radium, which is relatively soluble. Most Australian mines and many others adopt a "zero discharge" policy for any pollutants.On completion of the mining operation, it is normal for the tailings dam to be covered by some two metres of clay and topsoil with enough rock to resist erosion. This is to reduce both gamma radiation levels and radon emanation rates to levels near those normally experienced in the region of the orebody, and for a vegetation cover to be established. At Ranger and Jabiluka in North Australia, tailings will finally be returned to the mine pit or underground, as was done at the now-rehabilitated Nabarlek mine. In Canada, ore treatment is often remote from the mine that the new ore comes from, and tailings are emplaced in mined-out pits wherever possible, and engineered dams otherwise.At established ISL operations, after mining is completed the quality of the remaining groundwater must be restored to a baseline standard determined before the start of the operation so that any prior uses may be resumed. Usually this is potable water or stock water (usually les than 500 ppm total dissolved solids). Contaminated water drawn from the aquifer is either evaporated or treated before reinjection.In contrast to the main US operations, the water quality at the Australian sites is very poor to start with, and it is quite unusable. At Beverley the original groundwater in the orebody is fairly saline and orders of magnitude too high in radionuclides for any permitted use. At Honeymoon the original water is even more saline, and high in sulfates and radium. When oxygen input and leaching are discontinued, the water quality reverts to its original condition over time.Upon decommissioning, ISL wells are sealed or capped, process facilities removed, any evaporation pond revegetated, and the land can readily revert to its previous uses.Mining is generally considered a temporary land use, and upon completion the area with any waste rock, overburden, and covered tailings needs to be left fit for other uses, or its original use. In many parts of the world governments hold bonds to ensure proper rehabilitation in the event of corporate insolvency. The Health of Workers
In Australia all uranium mining and milling operations are undertaken under the Code of Practice and Safety Guide for Radiation Protection and Radioactive Waste Management in Mining and Mineral Processing. This was drawn up by the national government in line with recommendations of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP), but it is administered by state health and mines departments. The Code, which was updated in 1995 and again in 2005, sets strict health standards for radiation and radon gas exposure, for both workers and members of the public.
In Canada the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission is responsible for regulating uranium mining as well as other aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle. In Saskatchewan, provincial regulations also apply concurrently, and set strict health standards for both miners and local people.
Uranium itself is only slightly radioactive. However, radon, a radioactive inert gas, is released to the atmosphere in very small quantities when the ore is mined and crushed. Radon occurs naturally in most rocks - minute traces of it are present in the air which we all breathe and it is a significant contributor to the natural radiation dose that we all receive. Because it is airborne, special care must be taken to ensure that mine worker exposure, especially in poorly ventilated mines, is limited.
Open cut mines are naturally well ventilated. The Olympic Dam and Canadian (as well as other) underground mines are ventilated with powerful fans. Radon levels are kept at a very low and certainly safe level in uranium mines. (Radon even in non-uranium mines also may need control by ventilation.)
Gamma radiation may also be a hazard to those working close to high-grade ores. It comes principally from uranium decay products in the ore, so exposure to this is regulated as required. In particular, dust is suppressed, since this represents the main potential exposure to alpha radiation as well as a gamma radiation hazard.
At the concentrations associated with uranium (and some mineral sands) mining, radioactivity is a potential health hazard. Precautions taken during the mining and milling of uranium ores to protect the health of the workers include:
At any mine, designated employees (those likely to be exposed to radiation or radioactive materials) are monitored for alpha radiation contamination and personal dosimeters are worn to measure exposure to gamma radiation. Routine monitoring of air, dust and surface contamination is undertaken.
Canadian mine and mill facilities are designed to handle safely ore grades of up to 26% U.
If uranium oxide is ingested it has a chemical toxicity similar to that of lead oxide. Similar hygiene precautions to those in a lead smelter are therefore taken when handling it in the drying and packing areas of the mill.
The usual radiation protection procedures are applied at an ISL mine, despite the fact that most of the orebody's radioactivity remains well underground, and there is hence minimal increase in radon release and no ore dust.
As well as international quality control standards such as ISO 14001 applying to environmental management at many mines, there is now emerging an industry audit framework in collaboration with consumers of uranium, especially utilities which are sensitive to sustainable development principles, including those of their suppliers. Historically some electric utilities such as Vattenfall and EdF have applied Life Cycle Analysis to include audits of the mines and other fuel cycle facilities supplying them so that they are confident of and can vouch for the standards applying to those activities, both environmentally and socially (especially in relation to indigenous peoples).
The World Nuclear Association (WNA) has developed a framework for internationally standardised reporting on the sustainable development performance of uranium mining and processing sites. This has been agreed to by the main mining companies and developed in close collaboration with utilities so that they are in a position to report to their stakeholders. WNA is working towards implementation of a common audit program to be used worldwide by utilities and mines. There are moves to involve government regulators in this, since it complements their role, and national mining associations. The data supplied by mines will be subject to a verification process.
Uranium Resources and Supply
Table 1 shows the current known recoverable resources of uranium by country. Uranium is not a rare element and occurs in potentially recoverable concentrations in many types of geological settings. As with other minerals, investment in geological exploration generally results in increased known resources. Over 2005 and 2006 exploration effort resulted in the world's known uranium resources increasing by 15% in that two years.
There is therefore no reason to anticipate any shortage of uranium that will prevent conventional nuclear power from playing an expanding role in providing the world's energy needs for decades or even centuries to come. This does not even take into account improvements in nuclear power technology which could effectively increase the available resource dramatically.
The most common uranium product from mines is U3O8 which contains about 85% uranium. Table 1 refers to pure uranium, but the production figures may be expressed in terms of U308 by multiplying by 1.1793.
Table 1. Known Recoverable Resources of Uranium
Reasonably Assured Resources plus Inferred Resources, to US$ 130/kg U, 1/1/09, from OECD NEA & IAEA, Uranium 2009: Resources, Production and Demand ("Red Book")
The current global demand for uranium is about 68,500 tU/yr (tonnes uranium per year). The vast majority is consumed by the power sector with a small amount also being used for medical and research purposes, and some for naval propulsion. At present, about 53% of uranium comes from conventional mines (open pit and underground) about 41% from in situ leach, and 5% is recovered as a by-product from other mineral extraction.
In total this mined uranium accounts for 78% of annual nuclear power station requirements. The remainder is made up from secondary supplies as outlined below. Kazakhstan is now the world's leading uranium producer, followed by Canada (which long held the lead) and then Australia.
Thus the world's present measured resources of uranium (5.4 Mt) in the cost category a bit above present spot prices and used only in conventional reactors, are enough to last about 80 years. This represents a higher level of assured resources than is normal for most minerals. Further exploration and higher prices will certainly, on the basis of present geological knowledge, yield further resources as present ones are used up.In the third uranium exploration cycle from 2003 to the end of 2009 about US$ 5.75 billion was spent on uranium exploration and deposit delineation in over 600 projects. In this period over 400 new junior companies were formed or changed their orientation to raise over US$ 2 billion for uranium exploration. About 60% of this was spent on better defining and quantifying previously-known deposits. All this was in response to increased uranium price in the market.
Secondary Sources of Uranium
Secondary supplies today account for the equivalent of about 17,000 tU per year. This will drop sharply in 2014 when the supply of blended-down Russian high-enriched uranium to USA ceases, but in most scenarios will recover to at least 16,000 tU/yr by 2020.
A major secondary supply of uranium is provided by the decommissioning of nuclear warheads by the USA and Russia. Since 2000, 13% of global uranium requirement has been provided by this ex-military material. Other sources of uranium include government and utility stockpiles and a very large amount of depleted uranium left over from historic enrichment, which can be re-enriched with more efficient processes. A little comes from recycled uranium from reprocessing used fuel.
Central Asia's uranium mines
Kazakhstan has been an important source of uranium for more than fifty years. Uranium exploration started in 1948 and economic mineralisation was found in several parts of the country. This supported various mines in hard rock deposits. Some 50 uranium deposits are known, in six uranium provinces. In the early 1970s, successful tests on in situ leaching (ISL) led to further exploration being focused on two sedimentary basins with ISL potential. Up to 2000 twice as much uranium was mined from hard rock deposits as sedimentary ISL sands, but almost all production is now from ISL mines, some relatively small. Over 2001-2010 production rose from 2000 to 17,800 tU/yr, making Kazakhstan the world's leading uranium producer (33% of total in 2010), and further mine development is under way with a view to increasing production. All uranium is exported.
Kazatomprom is the national atomic company set up in 1997 and owned by the government. It controls all uranium exploration and mining as well as other nuclear-related activities. It aims to add value to the fuel chain and it is developing its fuel fabrication facilities so that fuel assemblies, rather than just fuel, could account for most sales by 2015. Kazatomprom has forged many international agreements on all aspects of nuclear power, and many of the mining operations are run as joint ventures with Russian, Chinese, Canadian and French companies.
In the Caspian province, the Prikaspisky Combine operated a major mining and processing complex in the 1960s, the first major mine in Kazakhstan. It was privatised as Kaskor in 1992 and operations ceased in 1994.
All except one of the operating and planned ISL mines are in the central south of the country. Mines in the Stepnoye area have been operating since 1978, those in the Tsentralnoye area since 1982 - both in the Chu-Sarysu basin/ province, which has more than half the country's known resources. There are 14 mines here. Mines in the Western (No.6) area of the Syrdarya basin/ province have operated since 1985, and today it has seven mines. One further ISL mine is in the Northern province.
The diversity, complexity and size of Kazakh uranium mining can be seen from the following Table. Details are in WNA's Kazakhstan paper.
Table 2. Kazakh ISL Uranium Mines
plus 2000 later
2000 (3,4)
(southern Moinkum, Katco)
(east Moinkum)
Southern group
Table 3. Kazakh Uranium Resources in Southern provinces
Syrdarya province
this being 72% of total Kazakh U resources and all suitable for acid ISL recovery.
AtomRedMetZoloto (ARMZ) is the state corporation which took over all uranium exploration and mining assets in 2007, as a subsidiary of Atomenergoprom, the state-owned Russian atomic energy company. It inherited 19 projects with a total uranium resource of about 400,000 tonnes, of which 340,000 tonnes are in Elkon uranium region and 60,000 tonnes in the Streltsovskiy and Vitimskiy regions.
Uranium production is increasing. In 2010 Russia produced some 3500 tonnes of uranium, mostly from several large underground mines operated by Priargunsky in the Streltsovskiy district of the Transbaikal or Chita region of SE Siberia near the Chinese and Mongolian borders. These deposits were discovered in 1967 and have been the major source of production since.
A lesser amount of production is from new operations at Khiagda in Buryatiya about 500 km northwest of Priargunsky's operations, and Dalur in the Kurgan region between Chelyabinsk and Omsk, just east of the Urals. Both are low-cost in situ leach (ISL) operations
Most of the future production is set to come from the massive Elkon project with several mines in the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) some 1200 km north-northeast of the Chita region. There is huge investment to bring these into production, which would ramp up from 2013 to 3000 tU in 2015, and 5000 tU/yr by 2024.
During the Soviet era, Uzbekistan provided much of the uranium to the Soviet military-industrial complex. Today the state-owned Navoi company operates several uranium mines there, producing about 2400 tU/yr.
North America's Uranium Mines
In Canada, uranium ores first came to public attention in the early 1930s when the Eldorado Gold Mining Company began operations at Port Radium, Northwest Territories, to recover radium. A refinery to produce radium was built at Port Hope, Ontario, some 5000 km away. Radium is one of the decay products of uranium and is therefore found in all uranium ores. As its name suggests it is highly radioactive. It had niche applications in the early part of the 20th century, for example as luminous paint, before the dangers of radiation became widely known. Hence a market for radium existed before uranium was in demand.
Exploration for uranium began in earnest in 1942, in response to a demand for defence purposes. By 1956 thousands of radioactive occurrences had been discovered and three years later 23 uranium mines with 19 treatment plants were in operation. The main production centre was around Elliot Lake in Ontario, but northern Saskatchewan hosted some plants. This first phase of Canadian uranium production peaked in 1959 when more than 12,000 tonnes of uranium was produced. This uranium yielded more in export revenue than any other mineral export from Canada that year.
In response to the development of civil nuclear power, uranium exploration revived during the 1970s, with the focus on in northern Saskatchewan's Athabasca Basin. The Rabbit Lake, Cluff Lake and Key Lake mines started up 1975 to 1983. Exploration expenditure in the region peaked at this time, resulting in the discoveries of Midwest, McClean Lake and Cigar Lake. Then in 1988 the newly-formed Cameco Corporation discovered the massive McArthur River deposit. As earlier in Australia, there was a period in the early 1990s when the Saskatchewan government considered phasing out uranium mining in the province, but this policy was abandoned after a joint federal-Saskatchewan study found that the benefits of mining outweighed the impacts, and that any impacts could indeed be minimized. Today the government actively supports uranium mining in the province.
Canada's share of known world uranium resources is currently about 8%, but it produces about one fifth of the mined uranium supply making it the second largest producer in the world behind Kazakhstan. Most uranium is exported, but about one fifth is used domestically.
Canada has made a transition from second-generation uranium mines (started 1975-83) to new high-grade ones, all in northern Saskatchewan, making its uranium mining operations among the most advanced in the world.
Cameco operates the McArthur River mine, which started production at the end of 1999. Its ore is milled at Key Lake, which once contributed 15% of world uranium production but is now mined out. Its other former mainstay is Rabbit Lake. Areva's Cluff Lake mine is now closed, and is being decommissioned.
Cameco's Rabbit Lake mine was brought into production in 1975. Most of the deposit has been mined out. Production from underground mining continues at over 1000 tU/yr but will phase out by about 2015.
McArthur River has enormous high-grade reserves of over 20% uranium ore at a depth of about 600 metres. It opened at the end of 1999 and is now the largest uranium mine in the world by a wide margin. Remote-control raise-boring methods are used for mining and the ore is trucked 80 km south to the modified Key Lake mill, where it is blended with "special waste rock" to produce 7200 tU/yr. Tailings are deposited in a mined-out pit. Cameco is the operator and majority owner, with Areva (30.2%) as partner.
Areva Resources operates the McClean Lake mine which commenced operation in mid 1999. It has new plant and other infrastructure and uses the first mined-out pit for tailings disposal (the ore having been stockpiled). McClean Lake involves four open pits and later will become an underground mine. Annual production depends critically on ore grade being treated, though the mine has recently been relicensed to produce as much as 3100 tU/yr. Denison Mines owns 22.5% of it.
Cigar Lake will be a 450 m deep underground mine in poor ground conditions, using ground freezing and high-pressure water jets for excavation of ore. High-grade ore slurry from remote mining will be trucked for treatment at Areva's expanded McClean Lake mill, 70 km northeast, and to Cameco's Rabbit Lake mill 70 km east, to produce 7000 tU/yr from about 2013. A major flood in 2006 and another in 2008 set the project back several years and pushed costs up from C$660 million to more than C$1.8 billion. The joint venture is managed by Cameco which holds 50%, and Areva holds 37%.
Areva's Midwest mine was to be underground, utilising ground freezing and water jet boring, but is now proposed as a large open pit. The ore will be milled at McClean Lake nearby, to produce 2200 tU/yr. Start-up has been postponed due to cost increases.
Areva's large Kiggavik deposit in the Nunavut Territory has evident potential, as do several other smaller but significant deposits.
In the 1950s, the USA had a great deal of uranium mining, promoted by federal subsidies. Peak production was 16,800 tU in 1980, when there were over 250 mines in operation. This number abruptly dropped to 50 in 1984, when 5700 tU was produced, and then there was steady decline to 2003, with most US uranium requirements being imported. By 2003 there were only two small operations producing a total of well under 1000 tU/yr, though more recently the sector has recovered, buoyed by higher uranium prices, so that in 2008 no fewer than 15 mines (10 underground and 5 ISL)operated for at least part the year and produced 1500 tU.
Cameco operates the Smith Ranch-Highland mine in Wyoming and the Crow Butte mine in Nebraska, both of them small ISL operations. Uranium One operates the Christiansen Ranch ISL mine in Wyoming. Mestena Uranium's Alta Mesa ISL plant in South Texas is also operational.
Conventional (non-ISL) uranium mining has returned to the USA after many years. One company, Denison Mines, operates mines on the Colorado Plateau and Henry Mountains in Utah. The ore is processed at its White Mesa mill in south-eastern Utah. White Canyon Uranium operates the Daneros mine in Utah, with ore toll milled at White Mesa. Several other projects are under development, though some projects and mines have been put on standby pending market improvements.
Australia's Uranium Mines
The first major producer of uranium in Australia was the Government-owned Rum Jungle project in the Northern Territory, which operated from 1954 to 1971. It was closely followed by Radium Hill in South Australia, then Mary Kathleen in Queensland.
As a result of intensive exploration in the late 1960s Australia began to emerge as a potential major source of uranium for the world's nuclear electricity production. At the beginning of the 1970s a series of important discoveries was made, particularly in the Northern Territory. Names like Ranger, Jabiluka and Nabarlek, all in the Northern Territory; Yeelirrie in Western Australia; Olympic Dam (with Roxby Downs town) in South Australia became familiar.
During this period many deposits were identified, however further uranium mining operations were not permitted by the government until after the findings of the Ranger Uranium Environmental Inquiry (also known as the Fox inquiry). This inquiry represented a major turning point in the history of the Australian uranium mining industry and provided the basis of subsequent Australian policy. It found that the impacts of uranium mining were manageable but that the sale of uranium needed to be carefully regulated, and that the rights of indigenous communities needed to be protected. Since then five uranium mines have operated, and several more are proposed.
Today Australia's share of the world's known uranium resources is about one third and it produces about 16% of the world's mined uranium. All uranium is exported - a total of about 10,000 tonnes per year of uranium oxide - U3O8 (8500 tU).
Mary Kathleen had a second production phase from 1974 to the end of 1982.
The Nabarlek mine was the first of the uranium deposits discovered in the late 1960s to early 1970s to come into production. The main orebody, which contained about 9300 tonnes of uranium, was mined by open pit and the ore stockpiled all in one year in 1979. The sore was then processed from 1980 to 1988. The Narbarlek mine site is significant because it was the first site to be rehabilitated according to modern principles and practice.
Ranger, owned by Energy Resources of Australia Ltd (ERA) and located about 230 kilometres east of Darwin in the Northern Territory was next. Mining commenced in 1980 and is continuing on the second of two orebodies, producing about 4500 tonnes of uranium per year.
Olympic Dam, 265 km north of Port Augusta in South Australia, commenced operations in 1988 and became part of BHP-Billiton in 2005 when Western Mining Corporation was taken over. It is potentially the world's largest uranium producer, with total resources of 2.45 million tonnes of uranium. The mine produces about 3500 tU/yr and there are plans for a very major expansion which could see an increase in production to 16,100 tU/yr.
Beverley, the country's first mine to utilise in situ leaching, commenced operation in South Australia in 2000. It is a small in situ leach (ISL) mine producing about 600 tU/yr, owned by Heathgate Resources.
Honeymoon in South Australia is the second ISL mine, producing about 340 tU/yr from 2011. It is a joint venture between Uranium One Inc of Canada and Mitsui of Japan.
ERA also owns the Jabiluka uranium orebody, adjacent to Ranger. This is one of the world's larger known uranium deposits, but development will not proceed until aboriginal landholders agree.
In Western Australia there are also plans to start mining Yeelirrie from about 2014 at 2000 tU/yr, and smaller operations are planned at Lake Way & Centipede, and Lake Maitland.
Africa's uranium mines
Uranium mining has a long and interesting history in Africa. Significant quantities of the mineral have previously come out of the Congo and Gabon. Today uranium is mined in Namibia, Niger, South Africa and Malawi.
The DR Congo, or Belgian Congo as it was then known, provided much of the uranium for the Manhattan Project in the early 1940s particularly from the Shinkolobwe mine in Katanga. There was some uranium mining subsequently by Union Miniere, to independence in 1960, when the shafts were sealed and guarded. About 25,000 tU was produced in the two decades until then.
In Gabon, the Mounana uranium deposits were discovered in 1956 by French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) geologists and were mined from 1960 to 1999, producing nearly 28,000 tonnes of uranium from underground and open pit mining. The best known of these deposits is Oklo, discovered in 1968, which is famous for its fossil nuclear reactors, where the natural conditions about two billion years ago created at least 17 self-sustaining nuclear reactors in the wet sandstone orebody.
Namibia has two large uranium mines capable of producing 10% of world output. In 1966 Rio Tinto took over the low-grade Rossing deposit, 65 km inland from Swakopmund. Rossing Uranium Ltd was formed in 1970 (now 68.6% Rio Tinto) and the company has mined the deposit from 1976 as a large-scale open pit in very hard rock. Rossing produced 3083 tU in 2010, making it the third largest uranium mine in the world. Langer Heinrich is 50 km south-southeast of Rossing and 80 km from the coast. It is being mined by Paladin Energy Ltd, producing about 1350 tU/yr.
There are several promising developments in Namibia, including Extract Resources' Husab project on the Rossing South deposit, which promises to become one of the world's largest uranium mines.
Niger has two significant long-running mines, Akouta and Arlette supplying 6% of the world's mined uranium. The Société des Mines de l'Air (SOMAIR) started production from the Arlette deposit in 1971, by open cut mining. It produces about 1700 tU/yr. The Compagnie Miniere d'Akouta (COMINAK) started production from the Akouta deposit in the 1970s. This is an underground operation at a depth of about 250 metres. Production is about 1400 tU/yr.
In South Africa, uranium production has generally been a by-product of gold or copper mining. In 1951, a company was formed to exploit the uranium-rich slurries from gold mining and in 1998 this became a subsidiary of AngloGold Ltd. It produces about 500 tU/yr from material trucked in from various gold mines and from Palabora copper mine.
In Malawi, Paladin Energy has developed the Kayelekera uranium mine where production is expected to ramp up to 1460 tU/yr about mid 2012.
In the Central African Republic, Areva is developing the Bakouma project, and is ramping up production from open pit mining to 1200 tU/yr.
In Zambia, Equinox Minerals is developing the Lumwana project, which is primarily a copper mine with discrete uranium ore. Uranium ore is being stockpiled, but there is no treatment plant yet.
Issues related to uranium mining
Safeguards to Prevent Military Use
Among uranium-exporting countries, Australia and Canada have some of the strictest conditions relating to the use of its uranium. These safeguards (inspections and accounting procedures) ensure that exported uranium is used for peaceful purposes only and is not diverted for military purposes or used in a way which adds to the proliferation of nuclear weapons.
Bilateral agreements to this effect between the Australian and Canadian Governments and each country wishing to import their uranium are therefore necessary before sales contracts can be completed. Such agreements are in addition to the application of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards administered under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The further transfer of nuclear material is only permitted to countries which have bilateral safeguards agreements with Australia or Canada.
Australia, Canada and Kazakhstan are now the world's major producers and exporters of uranium. In addition to providing further diversification and strength to their domestic economies, it gives all three countries a voice in the framing of international nuclear policies and safeguards. It also reduces the need for buyers to seek uranium from countries with less effective safeguards.
To investigate:
Some uranium basics:
The atomic number of uranium is 92, meaning that it has 92 protons and occupies place number 92 in the periodic table. It occurs naturally in six isotopes, U-233 to U-238 and therefore contains between 141 and 146 neutrons. The most common isotope is U-238 with a relative abundance of 99.3%. The second most common is U-235 with a relative abundance of 0.7% and the rest occur in trace amounts. All isotopes of uranium are radioactive and over time they decay to other lighter elements. However the rate of decay is slow; the radioactive half-life of U-238 is 4.47 billion years, meaning that it takes this much time for half of any given sample of U-238 to break down. The half-life of U-235 is 704 million years which means that most of the Earth's original U-235 has already decayed away.
A further property of U235 is that it is fissile and so neutrons emitted during fission can cause other U235 nuclei to fission also, releasing a lot of energy. This reaction is the basis of operation for the world's current nuclear power stations and is the major reason why uranium is a valuable mineral resource.
Further Reading
WNA country papers plus: In Situ Leach mining of uranium Uranium in Central Asia Supply of uranium In Situ Leach mining of uranium Uranium from phosphate deposits Uranium from rare earths deposits World uranium mining
Updated October 2011


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International Women's Day is more than a moment marked on a calendar. It is a day not just to renew our determination to make the world a more peaceful and prosperous place – but to recognize that a world where opportunities for women grow, is a world where the possibilities for peace, prosperity, and stability grow even more.
I see it every single day as Secretary of State. Even as the Assad regime's barrel-bombing of Aleppo continues, showing the world a brutal regime's true colors, with every act of courage and perseverance, Syria's women show the world their true colors as well. We heard from some of these remarkable women in Montreux just last month.
Their stories spoke to the bravery of countless other Syrian women. One woman from Idlib worked with the Free Syrian Army to ensure that the people of her village could remain in their homes and till their own land. Another woman from Aleppo got restrictions on humanitarian access lifted by offering food to regime soldiers at the checkpoints. If that isn't courage under fire, I don't know what is.
It's not just in Syria that women offer us hope for resolution to conflict. Women are vital to our shared goals of prosperity, stability and peace. That's as true when it comes to ending our battles as it is jumpstarting our economies. The fact is that women bear the greatest burden in war. But their voices are too rarely heard in negotiating peace.
That has to change.
Countries that value and empower women to participate fully in decision-making are more stable, prosperous, and secure. The opposite is also true. When women are excluded from negotiations, the peace that follows is more tenuous. Trust is eroded, and human rights and accountability are often ignored.
In too many countries, treaties are designed by combatants for combatants. It should come as no surprise, then, that more than half of all peace agreements fail within the first 10 years of signature. The inclusion of women in peace building and conflict prevention can reverse that trend.
So how do we get there?
Evidence from around the world has shown that deadly conflicts are more likely to be prevented, and peace best forged and protected, when women are included as equal partners.
That's why we are working to support women in conflict and post-conflict areas around the world.
In Afghanistan, we are advocating for the inclusion and election of women at all levels of governance. Afghan women today are marching forward in ways unimaginable just 10 years ago. They're starting companies. They're serving as members of parliament. They're teaching in schools and working as doctors and nurses. They are the foundation upon which Afghanistan's future is being built.
As the people of Burma work to resolve the conflict that has plagued their nation for decades, the United States is supporting the meaningful participation of women in the peace process and inter-communal peace initiatives.
We know that the security of women is essential to their participation in peace building. That's why we are working to ensure women get equal access to humanitarian assistance and relief, wherever we work.
The United States is also leading by example. My sister has worked for many years at the United Nations, following in the State Department footsteps of our father many years before I did myself. She's a trailblazer. But she's not alone. It's no coincidence that some of our top diplomats and peace negotiators are women – from National Security Advisor Susan Rice, to U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power, to Deputy Secretary of State Heather Higginbottom, to Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman. Today, all but one of the State Department's Regional Assistant Secretaries are women.
We celebrate their accomplishments not just because they are women, but because their work around the world will make all people – men and women, boys and girls – more secure.
Peace is not the absence of conflict. It is the presence of every member of society working together to promote stability and prosperity.
No country can succeed unless every citizen is empowered to contribute to its future. And no peace can endure if women are not afforded a central role. So today, we mark the miles women have traveled around the world – but more importantly we commit to the next miles of the journey.


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Scientists Create a New Way to Study T Cell Signaling
"This marriage of inorganic nanotechnology with organic molecules and cells enables us to go inside a living cell and physically move around its signaling molecules with molecular precision," said Jay Groves, a chemist who holds a joint appointment with Berkeley Lab's Physical Biosciences Division and UC Berkeley's Chemistry Department. "Our experimental beaker has now become the inside of living cells and we can watch chemical reactions take place there."
Groves is the principal co-author, along with Michael Dustin, a cellular immunologist at New York University (NYU), of a paper published in the November 18, 2005 issue of the journal Science, entitled: "Altered TCR Signaling from Geometrically Repatterned Immunological Synapses." The lead author is Kaspar Mossman, a graduate student in Groves' research group, and the second co-author is Gabriele Campi, a graduate student at NYU with Dustin.
"Scientists, including ourselves, have been posing elaborate theories about how the strength and duration of signals that activate T cells are controlled by immunological synapses, without having been able to do direct experimentation of key factors," said Groves. "Three years ago, we had this fantasy pipe dream about an experiment to measure how alterations in the geometric shapes of the synapses - what we call spatial mutations - would affect T cell signaling. Then we realized, we have the tools to create nanoscale patterns, we can do this."
The human immune system is a remarkable collaboration of different types of cells, working together to protect our bodies from bacterial, parasitic, fungal or viral infections, and against the growth of tumors. The process starts when "antigens," special markers on the surface of a cell, identify another cell as "non-self," and signal the cellular warriors of the immune system to kill the invader. Leading this attack will be the T cells, lymphocytes from the thymus. It is well established that the key to T cell activation is the molecular signal coming off antigen-presenting cell surfaces. This signal must be enhanced and sustained long enough for the T cells to commit to mounting an immune response, and then must be cut off in time to avoid antigen-induced cell suicide or "apoptosis" of the T cells.
It has also been established that the control center for T cell signaling is at the junction or point of contact between T cells and antigens, dubbed the "immunological synapse" because it resembles the synapse between two communicating nerve cells. At the immunological synapse, a central cluster of T cell receptors surrounded by a ring of adhesion molecules form what co-author Dustin has described as a sort of "bull's-eye." The center of this bull's eye has been dubbed the "central supramolecular activation cluster," or c-SMAC, because it was believed to be the source of T cell activation.
"The original idea behind the c-SMAC was that the larger the T cell receptor cluster, the stronger the T cell activation signal," said Groves. "This simple vision of strength in numbers had begun to show cracks, and now we have demonstrated that just the opposite is true, the coalescence of the c-SMAC cluster extinguishes the T cell activation signal. The duration of the activation signal is related to the spatial organization of the T cell receptors rather than cluster size."
Groves and his colleagues constructed their synthetic membranes out of lipids which they assembled onto a substrate of solid silica so that the membranes were able to float freely a few nanometers above the substrate. This enabled the researchers to preserve the membranes in their naturally fluid state, allowing lipids and T cell receptor proteins to diffuse and interact freely over macroscopic distances.
"The fluidity of our membranes created artificial antigen-presenting cell surfaces that enabled the formation of functional immunological synapses with living T cells," said Groves.
Groves and his colleagues were able to spatially mutate the geometric shapes of the immunological synapses by embedding the silica substrate with chrome lines that were only 100 nanometers (about one ten-millionth of an inch) wide. These ultra-narrow chrome lines served as barriers that restricted the motion of membrane lipids and T cell receptor proteins. Using electron-beam lithography, the researchers were able to configure the chrome lines into several distinct patterns, including simple parallel lines, grids, and a series of concentric hexagons.
"By changing the shape of the immunological synapse, we showed that the synapse signal starts out in an amplified mode, and that the transport of the T cell receptors towards the center weakens and eventually extinguishes the signal, irrespective of the degree of clustering," Groves said. "This may help explain why diseases of the autoimmune system are so difficult to treat. T cell receptor proteins do not respond like a conventional target, where if you hit the bull's eye you trigger a signal. The spatial position of the receptor determines the type of signal it triggers."
If scientists can learn more about the impact that spatial arrangement has on the immunological synapse and its signaling strength, the information could benefit the future development of drugs for treating autoimmune diseases. Such information should also help scientists better understand the chemical language by which cells communicate with one another.
Groves said this new technique for spatial mutation studies should be applicable to many intercellular signaling systems. Already, he and his colleagues have begun applying it to study neuronal synapse formation, and cell signaling mechanisms in the development of cancer. They are also using it to look at the dynamic range of signaling over which T cell receptors can respond.
"Essentially, these experiments amount to using inorganic nanotechnology to physically grab a protein in a living cell and move it to another position in that cell - then watch how the cell responds," said Groves. "We used it to study the T cell as a paradigm system, but the theme here is much more general. Whereas the spatial position of molecules is rarely thought to play an important role in the outcome of a chemical reaction, with our experimental technique we are seeing that, in living cells, this is not the case. The spatial position encodes information which can be directly translated into altered chemical outcomes."
The earliest indications that spatial positions could influence T cell signaling and that the synaptic pattern might actually help to extinguish the signal came from the work of Arup Chakraborty, a chemical engineering professor who, at the time, held a joint Berkeley Lab/UC Berkeley appointment and is now with MIT University. Chakraborty is a pioneer in the use of computer simulations, called "experiments in silico," for studying important problems in cellular immunology. In 2003, his computational models indicated that the immunological synapse is responsible for intense but self-limited T cell signaling.


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Disclaimer: This could be might be read by some as an apology for Jim Joyce. It is not intended to be. Also, I am an Indians fan, and obviously I had an interest in my team avoiding the ignominy of being retired in order by Armando Galarraga. My initial reaction was relief. My second reaction was rationalization--"Call me a homer, but he bobbled that ball." Sorry P, but he didn't. Jason Donald should have been called out, and the Indians surprisingly dreadful offense was in deed set down in order by Armando Galarraga.
That being said, I think it is instructive and a little disturbing (if such things were actually disturbing) that the outcry over this call from the general public appears to be greater than it was for some of the equally egregious calls in the 2009 postseason. Baseball fans have an unhealthy obsession with feats, sometimes elevating them above the objective of the game itself, which is to win. Some of the biggest controversies in baseball are not about calls that decide ballgames, but calls that decide interesting, impressive, rare, but ultimately insignificant feats.
This is another point at which this is going to sound like an apology, that I'm saying it's okay to blow a call that ruins a perfect game but not a call that decides a game. That's not what I'm saying. It's not okay for umpires to make terrible calls in the ninth inning of a 15-3 game, in the ninth inning of a perfect game, in the eleventh inning of game seven of the World Series, or in the first inning of a September game between the Pirates and Astros when both are twenty games out of first place. But for a call that affected an individual feat and not a game outcome to be the catalyst is a case of twisted priorities.
Suppose that Jason Donald's "hit" had occurred in a 3-2 game with a runner at third. This play would have stolen a victory right out of the jaws of the Tigers and extended the game. What would the outcry have looked like? It probably would have been pretty tame.
Sure, Baseball Tonight and MLB Tonight would have shown the replay several times, talked about what a bad break the Tigers got. Tiger fans would have vented their frustration in cyberspace and over talk radio, and advocates of expanded replay would have justifiably used it as another case in point. But it would not have dominated the conversation. It would not have come close to knocking Ken Griffey's retirement out of the lead position on the baseball wire.
I realize that I might be in the minority, but I think it is a sad commentary on the general mindset when a call that ultimately has no effect on the outcome of the game is considered a greater injustice than the similarly bad calls that do effect the outcome of games. It is a mindset born out of an unhealthy emphasis on the individual feat.
It may seem incongruous for a sabermetrician to dismiss the importance of the individual feat, when so much of sabermetrics is based on evaluating individual performance. I don't believe that it is, because sabermetrics embraces probability and large sample sizes. Whether the play was called correctly or incorrectly will make no measurable difference in any proper sabermetric evaluation of Armando Galarraga. It is only on the micro-level of the evaluation of the individual game that Galarraga suffers--and other players suffer every day in the majors.
And let's be honest--the call was not the worst call that was or will be made in the majors this year. I heard people say he was "out by a mile". No, he was out by a step or 3/4 of a step. That's a wide enough gap that the call should be made properly, but that's not the way it works in practice. It was unquestionably the wrong call, but it was not a particularly egregious blown call relative to the standards that have been set.
That does not excuse Jim Joyce or excuse MLB for allowing bad calls to persist. Instead, it illustrates the futility of giving this play special treatment, elevating this play to being worthy of breaking an entire game's history of precedent and creating ex post facto rules. Rule 9.02(a) is clear: "Any umpire's decision which involves judgment, such as, but not limited to, whether a batted ball is fair or foul, whether a pitch is a strike or a ball, or whether a runner is safe or out, is final."
Does it have to be this way? No, not necessarily. If this event serves as a catalyst for a reconsideration of instant replay, a renewed scrutiny on the process by which umpires are selected and evaluated, or any related area, then at least something positive will have come of it.
Another sentiment that I heard which I find disturbing is that the umpire should have, if he had any doubts, sided with Detroit because of the magnitude of the situation. I cannot imagine a worse guideline to put in place for umpires. I have no doubts that umpires do sometimes let their emotions cloud their judgment, or let the situation influence their call. This should be discouraged as strongly as possible. The umpire should always make the call to the best of his ability and as free from outside pressure as humanly possible. In some cases, the policy of erring on the side of the extraordinary will produce a better outcome, and tonight was one of them. In the vast majority, it would produce worse outcomes, and outcomes that would make a mockery of fair play.
That's another example of where I doubt the outrage would be far less intense--if the play was a mirror of itself, and Donald was truly safe by the same margin he was out by, but was incorrectly ruled out. This would have gotten a healthy amount of attention, and for the next five years or so it would be remembered as the Perfect Game That Wasn't.
There are actually serious suggestions that the commissioner step in and somehow change the call. I feel like I'm beating a strawman even responding, because I'm dumbfounded at the notion that anyone could think that was a good idea, but against my better judgment I'll list some of the many reasons why that is a terrible idea:
1) It ignores precedent and gives the commissioner ex post facto authority
2) It undermines the authority of the umpires, with their judgment calls now up for outside review (this does not mean I'd be opposed to a rule change that would allow review (i.e. replay))
3) It gives the impression that a call altering an individual feat is more important than one altering the outcome of a game
4) It turns MLB into something akin to the NCAA or the Olympics--a competition in which you can't leave the park with confidence that what you've seen will be recognized as actually happening. Trevor Crowe's plate appearance that followed would be wiped from existence.
Many will think I'm going overboard here, but I can only speak for myself--I take this very seriously. I don't watch any NCAA sporting events except those that involve my alma mater, with a secondary reason being that I don't have any confidence that what I'm watching won't be declared meaningless by an infractions committee someday. (*)
On an unrelated note, I have been extremely impressed with Galarraga's comments. He seems to be a class act. No one should be robbed of a perfect game, but if it had to happen, it's a shame it didn't happen to Dallas Braden instead.
(*) I realize that when games are protested, sometimes they are played over or replayed from a certain point, and what came before is wiped out. But this happens if and only if the umpires error in enforcing the rules, not whenever they make a simple error in judgment. There's a big difference between the two, and it has an enormous impact on the frequency of such rewrites.
Thursday, June 03, 2010
Re-Joyce Indians
3 comments:
"Suppose that Jason Donald's "hit" had occurred in a 3-2 game with a runner at third."
Suppose it was Ichiro, suppose it was the bottom of the tenth, and suppose a runner came around to score. Then you would have the Twins-Mariners game from last night, which ended on a botched call. No matter though, because the AL Central never comes down to a single game lead.- AnonymousJune 4, 2010 at 12:18 PM
Love the comment thrown in about Dallas Braden. I can not stand that guy. He's a loud-mouthed, completely classless guy that needs to learn his place. Never have I seen a package of so much entitlement and arrogance with so little accomplishment. And after his grandma's 30 seconds of fame, it's obvious where he learned it.
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DPA Microphones Appoints Eric Mayer as President of U.S. Operations
"I am very excited to be working with a high-quality brand like DPA Microphones, which develops innovative products that are standouts in the industry," says Mayer. "For most of my professional career, I participated in the growth and development of another premium microphone company, and I plan to use that experience to help DPA expand further in the States. I look forward to ensuring that the company adjusts in a sales and marketing perspective to the changing and increasingly competitive environment of the microphone industry, as well as to overseeing the entire U.S. operation."
After graduating from New York University with a degree in music technology, Mayer took his first significant sales job with Location Sound Corporation, a production audio equipment sales, service and rental company for the film, broadcast and video markets. During his tenure with Location Sound, Mayer worked his way to assistant sales manager before joining Sennheiser USA as a market development manager in 1996. Since that time, Mayer held various positions with Sennheiser USA, most recently as national sales manager for the professional systems division.
Mayer's appointment will ensure that DPA Microphones continues to make inroads into new and burgeoning audio markets in the U.S. He will use the company's reputation of delivering high-quality microphone solutions to the pro audio, broadcast, music and live-performance venues, and will continue to search for sectors where first-rate audio is needed.
"We are very pleased to welcome Eric, who shares our vision for the future of DPA Microphones in the audio industry, to the team," says DPA CEO Christian Poulsen. "I am confident that he will continue to support our existing U.S. partners, as well as providing many new ones with the opportunity to be a part of DPA's worldwide success. His expertise in successful promotion of an audio business in the States ensures that both DPA and the industry will enjoy great enhancements.
"In comparison to Western Europe, where we have a much larger share within high quality microphone markets, DPA's microphones are a well kept secret in the U.S. and we know Eric will increase exposure of the brand. Currently, some of the best audio specialists in the American market are using DPA microphones for their most challenging work, and they have experienced the unique combination of sound quality and reliability. We see a huge potential to expand our market share, especially with our miniature microphones, which already have a long list of fantastic references within the theater, broadcast, live and installation environments. We know Eric is the perfect person to lead our mission in the U.S."
DPA Microphones A/S is the leading Danish Professional Audio manufacturer of high- quality condenser microphones and microphone solutions for professional applications in studio, broadcast, theatre, video/film and sound reinforcement environments. All DPA microphones and components are manufactured at the company's purpose-built factory in Denmark.


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Sept. 2, 2008, Waukegan, IL -- The 2007 National Electrical Safety Code (NESC ANSI C2-2007, Section 410.A.3) will require that all power distribution utilities perform Arc-Flash assessments by Jan. 1, 2009.
HD's ArcPro Arc Hazard Assessment Software is designed to aid in the selection of protective clothing by defining the arc hazard for workers who may be accidently exposed to electrical arcs.
ArcPro provides the user with calculations including heat exposure, total heat flux and heat energy on a surface at various distances from an electric arc. The user can then specify clothing that will withstand the level of predicted arc hazards.
For more information on ArcPro Arc Hazard Assessment Software please visit HD's Web site at www.HDElectricCompany.com/arcpro.htm.
HD Electric Company
1475 Lakeside Drive
Waukegan, IL 60085 USA
847-473-4980 – phone
847-473-4981 – fax


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In her new action thriller Salt, Angelina Jolie doesn't just play a spy. She doesn't just play a superspy. She plays a sooooperspy. (The better to stoooopefy, my dears.)
As you might imagine, the approach of Jolie, director Philip Noyce (Clear and Present Danger) and screenwriter Kurt Wimmer (Law Abiding Citizen) has its merits. The story of a career CIA intelligence officer informed that she's been a Russian sleeper agent all along, Salt gives Jolie plenty of opportunities to bust out her perfected, pursed-lip "I'm about to do something naughty" look. The problem is that what may seem at first blush like an unconventional action movie has within it, waiting to break out, its own sleeper agent: a highly conventional action movie designed for franchise potential (a star is Bourne?).
Suddenly on the run, Jolie's highly-trained operative Evelyn Salt must immediately contend with two problems: eluding the full force of the CIA and tracking down her beloved husband (a German arachnologist played by August Diehl), who's likely a victim of kidnap or worse. For the audience, there's a larger question: whose side is Salt on? If only Noyce didn't make it so easy to predict where Salt is going, maybe it would be harder to predict where Salt is going—so to speak. Still, the first act's breakout of good old-fashioned Fugitive action allows for some preposterous but cool stunts of the James Bond school, and the able Jolie thrives on every such opportunity (it's a testament to Jolie's action-star credibility that she replaced the once-attached Tom Cruise).
Salt's ingenuity, hyper-speed reaction time and application of brute force make her a kind of Jackie Bauer who we'd better hope is working for the good guys. Jolie gets pro support from Liev Scheiber, as longtime colleague Ted, and Chiwetel Ejiofor as the skeptical Peabody (sample line: "There's a mole in Russia House, I'm sure of it"); both are tasked with hunting down Salt, who may or may not be poised to assassinate the Russian president. This question gets answered in another novel set piece—this one set in a New York City cathedral—that's emblematic of the movie: momentarily exciting but utter nonsense, a Burmese Tiger Pit built over a gaping plot hole.
So Salt is a wild ride, crazy-ridiculous, predictable to anyone who's ever seen a big-budget spy picture, but also pleasingly stunt-happy. Whether or not audiences will want to sign up depends on what they're in the mood for: a gourmet meal like Inception or fast food. Add Salt to taste.
[This review first appeared in Palo Alto Weekly.]
Sony's Deluxe Unrated Edition of Salt on Blu-ray turns out to have three different presentations of the film: the Theatrical Version (approximately 100 minutes), the Unrated Director's Cut (approximately 104 minutes) and the puzzlingly named Unrated Extended Cut (approximately three minutes shorter than the Director's Cut). Seamless branching brings together what's essentially a single hi-def transfer, and a fine one at that. The A/V quality is typically, for Sony, top-notch: while this isn't the most razor-sharp picture around, with the deepest blacks and finest close-up detail, the minor flaws (such as occasional soft shots) would seem to be not owed to Sony's home-video technicians but rather endemic to the director's intent and post-production treatment of the material. At any rate, only nitpickers would complain much about this handsome hi-def transfer, which has its fair share of dazzling moments. The clear, crisp, and clean lossless DTS-HD Master Audio mix adds plenty of value to the experience, handily recreating the potent theatrical soundscape, especially in the action sequences and not-forgotten prioritization of dialogue.
Every bonus feature one would hope for Salt is here, starting with the Blu-ray-exclusive Spy Cam Picture-in-Picture experience (Theatrical Version only). Every participant in the featurettes listed below turns up in this track, which is a bit spotty. Only the most die-hard fans of the film and its stars will want to tough this out. On the other hand, the commentary with director Phillip Noyce is arguably essential, with the veteran filmmaker placing the film in the context of his long career and familial connection to the world of espionage; for movie buffs, Noyce may not quite be the top man working, but he makes good company on this commentary track.
"The Ultimate Female Action Hero" (8:05, HD) focuses on star Angelina Jolie. Amid behind-the-scenes footage, Jolie comments, as do Noyce, producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Liev Schreiber, second unit director/stunt coordinator Simon Crane, producer Sunil Perkash, and costume designer Sarah Edwards.
Blu-exclusive "The Real Agents" (12:33, HD) sits down for intriguing chats with three former operatives: former Major General in the 1st chief directorate of the KGB Oleg Kalugin, former CIA intelligence officer Melissa Boyle Mahle, and former CIA senior operations officer Peter Earnest.
"Spy Disguise: The Looks of Evelyn Salt" (5:26, HD) delivers on its promise by interviewing Jolie, Edwards, hair stylist Colin G. Jamison, and prosthetic makeup designer Kazuhiro Tsuji.
Blu-exclusive "The Modern Master of the Political Thriller: Phillip Noyce" (9:15, HD) talks with Noyce, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Bonaventura, Perkash, Schreiber, Jolie, production designer Scott Chambliss, Crane, and Edwards.
Blu-exclusive "False Identity: Creating a New Reality" (7:14, HD) is the requisite special-effects featurette, with visual effects supervisor Robert Grasmere narrating footage at various stages of development.
As per Sony's wont, the disc buries the lead, with the most thorough making-of featurette deep on the bench. The Blu-exclusive "Salt: Declassified" (29:47, HD) features Noyce, Bonaventura, Schreiber, August Diehl, Earnest, Kalugin, Mahle, former Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge (!), former director of communications for Homeland Security Kirk Whitworth, Jamison, Tsuji, Ejiofor, Chambliss, Crane, Grasmere, and composer James Newton Howard.
"The Treatment Radio Interview with Phillip Noyce" (27:12, HD) finds host and film critic Elvis Mitchell amiably chatting with the director. It's an unusually in-depth bonus that nitty-gritty film fans will find most welcome.
Lastly, the disc is, of course, BD-Live enabled with movieIQ + sync and more.
Review gear: |
Panasonic Viera TC-P55VT30 55" Plasma 1080p 3D HDTV
Oppo BDP-93 Universal Network 3D Blu-ray Disc Player
Denon AVR2112CI Integrated Network A/V Surround Receiver
Pioneer SP-BS41-LR Bookshelf Speaker (2)
Pioneer SP-C21 Center Speaker
Pioneer SW-8 Subwoofer