As a result, the company officially opened the mine on 27 March 2013 while simultaneously handing over new houses to 246 families who were relocated from Segorong to Praktiseer and Pidima, also in Burgersfort. The opening of the mine and the completion of the houses has been a long and arduous 12-year journey but finally both the community of Segorong and Imerys South Africa have a good reason to celebrate, says Imerys CEO and chairperson Gilles Michel.
Polonium is a radioactive element discovered in 1898 by scientists Marie and Pierre Curie and named for Marieâs native country, Poland. One of the Earthâs rarest elements, itâs an odorless, silvery-gray soft metal that can be ground into powder.
WHEN the former K.G.B. agent Alexander V. Litvinenko was found to have been poisoned by radioactive polonium 210 last week, there was one group that must have been particularly horrified: the tobacco industry. The industry has been aware at least since the 1960s that cigarettes contain significant levels of polonium.