Word: valleyful
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...regime, and a number of ethnic minority-based groups fiercely opposed to the Taliban's harsh rule - and also to the principle of being ruled by a government composed only of ethnic Pashtuns. The key component of these forces are the ethnic Tajiks who control the strategically important Pansjir valley. The Taliban have failed to dislodge them despite launching massive annual offensives - but they did strike a body blow last week by assassinating the Northern Alliance's key military leader, Ahmed Shah Masood, the "Lion of the Pansjir." The Northern Alliance forces only control five percent of the country...
Still, even the EPA lauds Kennecott's stewardship in the valley. "That particular mine is at the forefront of the industry. Having a booming metropolis has forced Kennecott to deal appropriately at that site," says Dan Randolph, the EPA's Southwest-circuit rider...
Kennecott Utah Copper, the mine's operator since 1903 and owner of some 40,000 developable acres in the western valley, has passed its golden age, when the pit was bottomless and facilities could pump and dump waste with abandon. Times have changed. A pound of copper sells for about half what it did five years ago, and cleaning up the environment absorbs many of the resulting pennies. So K.U.C. was pleased to stumble onto an asset that doesn't appear on the balance sheet of its corporate parent, Anglo-Australian mining behemoth Rio Tinto: its own backyard. There...
...project will address the valley's rapid growth and repay some of the environment-related capital expenses Rio Tinto has incurred during its 12-year ownership--a $2 billion total that includes a new, cleaner, $1 billion smelter. Bingham Canyon will wind down in the next 15 years, sticking Rio Tinto with further cleanup bills. The company's half-year returns show that K.U.C. constitutes 15% to 20% of its asset base but generated just 3% to 4% of its $841 million profit. Over the next 20 to 25 years, K.U.C.'s Sunrise could bring Rio Tinto the current equivalent...
...Nevada, where Rio holds a 40% stake in a mine operated and 60% owned by Placer Dome, the Environmental Protection Agency is concerned about groundwater contamination from current mines and the potential for future damage to sacred lands of the Western Shoshone. In Salt Lake Valley, Rio Tinto has paid some $300 million in reclamation costs and is not finished. A 72-sq.-mi. plume of toxins, one of the world's largest, has rendered water from an aquifer beneath Salt Lake City undrinkable. Engineers must halt its spread and prevent public exposure...