US embassy cable - 04KINSHASA2087

UNCLAS KINSHASA 002087 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KNNP, EMIN, PREL, PGOV, CG 
SUBJECT: UN TEAM TO SHINKOLOBWE: MINE NOT A PROLIFERATION 
THREAT BUT SHOULD STAY CLOSED 
 
REF: KINSHASA 611 
 
1. (U) A UN team, composed of officials from IAEA, UNEP and 
WHO, visited Shinkolobwe mine in Katanga Province from Oct 25 
to Nov 04 and concluded that the mine should remain closed 
due to risks of mine collapse and potential chronic exposure 
to ionising radiation. The objective of the trip was to 
determine mine safety and health hazards to former workers, 
and not a safeguards and proliferation assessment. A UN press 
release announced the mine was vacated and no evidence of 
uranium mining was found. Although the mine was unstable and 
subject to additional cave-ins, team member Alain Pasche, 
stated to UN press, "No immediate risks to the environment 
were observed, though we have taken samples of water, soil 
and sediments, which will be further analysed in Switzerland 
for heavy metal concentrations." 
 
2. (SBU) IAEA safeguards officer Bernard Weiss told econoff 
in a phone conversation on  Oct 29 that IAEA sent a 
safeguards assessment team to Shinkolobwe in May 2004. The 
safeguards assessment team concluded there was not a 
safeguards/proliferation risk from the mine. He did note that 
the higher than normal levels of radiation at Shinkolobwe are 
to be expected due to the presence of natural uranium and 
other heavy metals in the area. Although this does not pose a 
proliferation risk, it could pose an alpha radiation health 
hazard for the workers who breathed mine dust on a daily 
basis. This assessment mirrors the USG assessment in March 
2004 (reftel). 
 
3. (SBU) Comment: Hype about Shinkolobwe, where the uranium 
for the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs was mined, is largely 
created by a sensationalist press. Both USG and IAEA have 
determined that there is not a nuclear safeguards or 
proliferation risk from Shinkolobwe. The artisanal miners 
have been removed from the mine. The UN team and local mining 
sector contacts report that all mining has stopped. Although 
miners previously at Shinkolobwe might be at higher risk for 
health problems due to inhalation of radioactive dust, 
naturally elevated levels of radioactivity should not be 
confused with proliferation of highly radioactive substances. 
End comment. 
MEECE