Orano warns of financial problems at Niger uranium plant
The West African nation increasingly seeks new partners, such as Russia, in its mining sector.
A number of American states and tribes have received more than a lump of coal in their stockings this Christmas.
The Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement on Thursday, together with Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, announced $485 million is being given to states and tribes to eliminate health and safety hazards caused by past coal mining.
The funds are $90 million more than given last year.
Wyoming received the most, $150 million, followed by Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky and Illinois. The Navajo Nation will get $7.2 million, the Crow Tribe $2.2 millon and the Hopi Tribe $1.4 million.
The full breakdown is as follows:
| Alabama | $9,439,875 | New Mexico | $5,538,041 |
| Alaska | $3,000,000 | North Dakota | $3,921,596 |
| Arkansas | $3,000,000 | Ohio | $16,485,743 |
| Colorado | $8,655,603 | Oklahoma | $3,000,000 |
| Illinois | $24,080,075 | Pennsylvania | $67,152,367 |
| Indiana | $16,141,131 | Tennessee | $3,000,000 |
| Iowa | $3,000,000 | Texas | $5,413,781 |
| Kansas | $3,000,000 | Utah | $4,939,010 |
| Kentucky | $46,998,225 | Virginia | $11,330,795 |
| Louisiana | $426,215 | West Virginia | $66,495,521 |
| Maryland | $3,000,000 | Wyoming | $150,018,677 |
| Mississippi | $257,477 | Crow Tribe | $2,164,911 |
| Missouri | $3,000,000 | Hopi Tribe | $1,435,253 |
| Montana | $13,402,468 | Navajo Nation | $7,216,702 |
