Turkey top envoy goes to Niger in bid to secure uranium supplies
The trip comes after Niger’s military government withdrew mining rights from Canadian and French companies to develop uranium deposits.
Hughie Elbert Stover, the former security chief at the Upper Big Branch mine, was sentenced on Wednesday to three years in prison for lying to federal agents and obstructing an investigation into an explosion that killed 29 miners in 2010.
The Chicago Tribune reports that Stover had originally faced a possible maximum sentence of 25 years behind bars, after being convicted last October of giving false statements to the FBI and the Mine Safety and Health Administration.
According to the story, investigators discovered Stover warned mine personnel when safety inspectors were on their way and caused the destruction of thousands of documents related to the Upper Big Branch Mine. A former mine superintendent was charged last week with felony conspiracy and is facing accusations that he tipped off employees to safety inspections and hid dangerous violations.
The owner of the mine, Massey Energy, has since been sold to Alpha Natural Resources.
