Environment & Energy

China's just announced the production of their first barrel of uranium mined with In Situ Leach mining using oxygen and carbon dioxide - probably the most environmentally unobtrusive way of mining the world's least environmentally damaging fuel. Over 50% of uranium already comes from ISL, but till now acid or sodium bicarbonate was used. Just a few boreholes down to the ore body. In contrast, open cast coal mining rips the whole overburden off the coal seam, creating huge volumes of waste even before shipping and burning the coal. Coal is, of course, the main power source for making the polysilicon used in solar panels, of which China is the dominant supplier.