-
curite-
uraninite, huge old specimen. Very heavy, as matrix is pure uraninite (steel-gray). Shinkolobwe is the
type locality for schoepite and curite. Ex-
Carnegie Museum of Natural History, removed from display for being "too hot" (radioactive). Size: 14.0 x 10.0 x 7.2 cm. The first mine was opened in the
Belgian Congo in 1921. Uranium-bearing ore was initially exported to
Olen, Belgium for the extraction of
radium, and uranium. Only the richest ore was sent to Olen, with the remainder held in reserve.
Open-cut mining was suspended at level and at the level underground in 1936, though exploration had commenced at level , and water pumps installed at level . Both Britain and France expressed interest in the Belgium inventory of uranium ore in 1939. Nothing further happened though after the Nazis occupied Belgium in 1940 and got control of the ore still "on the docks". Open-cut operations restarted in 1944, and underground in 1945, which required pumping the mine dry since the water table was at about 45 m. The 255 m level was reached in 1955.
Manhattan Project in
malachite specimen from the Shinkolobwe mine The United States used Shinkolobwe's
uranium resources to supply the
Manhattan Project to construct the
atomic bomb in World War II.
Edgar Sengier, then director of
Union Minière du Haut Katanga, had stockpiled 1,200 tonnes of uranium ore in a warehouse on
Staten Island, New York. This ore and an additional 3,000 tonnes of ore stored above-ground at the mine was purchased by Colonel
Ken Nichols for use in the project. Nichols wrote: In 1940, 1,200 tons of stockpiled
uranium ore were shipped to the US by Sengier's African Metals Corp., a commercial arm of Union Minière. After the September 1942 agreement with Nichols, an average of 400 tons of
uranium oxide was then shipped to the US each month. Initially, the port of
Lobito was used to ship the ore, but later
Matadi was used to improve security. Only two shipments were lost at sea. The aerodromes in
Elizabethville and
Leopoldville were also expanded. Additionally, the mine was reopened with the help of the
United States Army Corps of Engineers, which involved draining the water and retooling the facility. Finally, the
Office of Strategic Services were enlisted to deal with the threat of smuggling to Germany. In 1950, a uranium processing plant was said to be under construction near the mine. In 1947, the US received 1,440 tons of uranium concentrates from the Belgian Congo, 2,792 in 1951, and 1,600 in 1953. A processing plant was added nearby, and for increased security, a garrison was also established, with a supporting NATO military base in
Kamina.
Jadotville became a security checkpoint for foreigners. However, by the time of Congo independence, Union Minière had sealed the mine with concrete.
Israeli yellowcake In what was termed
Operation Plumbat, Israel, in 1968, obtained
yellowcake (processed
uranium ore) to support the
Israeli nuclear weapons effort in a clandestine operation after
France stopped supplying it with
uranium fuel for the
Dimona nuclear reactor in reaction to the
1967 Arab-Israeli War. Numerous sources believe that in 1968 Israel managed to obtain 200 tonnes of yellowcake from the Belgian mining company
Union Minière. The company collaborated with
Mossad in shipping out the ore from
Antwerp to
Genoa for a European front company which then surreptitiously transferred the ore to another vessel at night on the Mediterranean Sea.
Closure The mine was officially closed on January 28, 2004, by presidential decree. However, eight people died and a further thirteen people were injured in July 2004, when part of the old
mine collapsed. Although industrial production has ceased with cement lids sealing off the mine shafts, there is evidence that some
artisanal mining still goes on there. A
United Nations inter-agency mission, led by the UN
Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and organised through their Joint Environment Unit, visited the mine. The UNEP/OCHA concluded:
Artisanal mining and smuggling On July 18, 2006, the DRC Sanctions Committee (
United Nations Security Council Committee Established Pursuant to Resolution 1533 (2004), to give it its full name) released a report dated June 15, 2006, which stated that artisanal mining for various minerals continues at the Shinkolobwe mine: On August 9, 2006, the British
Sunday Times published a report claiming that Iran was seeking to import "bomb-making uranium" from the Shinkolobwe mine, providing no evidence but quoting the UN report of July 18, 2006. It gives "Tanzanian customs officials" as its sole source for the claim that the uranium was destined for processing in the former
Soviet republic of
Kazakhstan via the Iranian port of
Bandar Abbas. American journalist
Douglas Farah has compared this to North Korean attempts to get uranium from the same mine. == See also ==