SHILLONG: Allaying fears about large-scale hazardous implications out of Uranium mining in Meghalaya, a foreign firm has come up with a solution to conduct mining of Uranium in the State in a safe environment.
Representatives of the Government of Canada, Trade Commissioner Service and the Saskatchewan Trade & Export Partnership on Wednesday held a meeting with Meghalaya State Planning Board in this regard.
Talking to media persons after the meeting, Trade Development South Asia, Mortoza Tarafder, said that the firm was keen to explore the possibility of conducting safe mining of uranium in the State if the Government was willing to approach them.
“We have the technology and we do safe mining and if there is an approach from the Government we can always explore them,” Tarafder told media persons.
According to him, the firm is equipped with adequate technology and expertise to mine uranium safely and suggested that the firm can develop the uranium mines of the State in partnership with other companies. Stating that they mine not only Uranium but also coal and oil in a safe and scientific manner, he said that they have hi-tech machines which have been tailor-made specifically for the needs of particular mines.
It may be mentioned that the Atomic Minerals Directorate (AMD) for Exploration and Research has found 1,71,672 tonnes of uranium deposits in the country, of which 19,738 tonnes are in Meghalaya alone.
However, several organizations are opposed to mining of the energy-rich metal despite the State leasing out 422 sq. hectares with uranium deposits in West Khasi Hills for 30 years to the Uranium Corporation of India Ltd (UCIL) for pre-project development work.
The meeting which was chaired by John F Kharshiing, Co-Chairman, Meghalaya State Planning Board, discussed about possible trade opportunities between Meghalaya and the Saskatchewan Province (State) of Canada.
The meeting also discussed issues relating to food security, energy generation (mini-hydro, thermal, solar, nuclear projects) and felt there was tremendous potential for development of mini-hydro, solar, and wind generation plants in Meghalaya.
During the meeting, the foreign firm also suggested that a wind map study of Meghalaya could be considered to properly tap the huge potential available in the Hill State.