MORE ABOUT THE ISSUE:
Mirrar: Traditional Owners
The Mirrar people, part of the oldest culture in the world, are the Traditional Owners of country within the area now known as Kakadu National Park. Mirrar country wholly includes the Jabiluka Mineral Lease, the Ranger Uranium Mine Project Area, the mining town of Jabiru and a significant proportion of the Kakadu World Heritage Area. There are currently 27 adult members of the Mirrar clan. The Mirrar are solely responsible for their country on which they have lived since time immemorial. Many of their rights and opportunities have already been severely diminished or completely stripped by a combination of government policies and cultural misunderstanding.
Uranium Mining
Uranium mining has had a severe impact upon the the Aboriginal communities in the region, with long-term adverse social, economic and health consequences. The Jabiluka uranium mine will directly interfere with sacred sites which the Mirrar believe will result in cataclysmic fatal consequences for people and country. In addition, the Mirrar are also very concerned about the environmental impact of the Jabiluka mine on the country from which they collect food and for which they are responsible. For these reasons, Yvonne Margarula, the senior traditional leader of the Mirrar people, is opposed to the Jabiluka mine. The Ranger uranium mine will produce 40 million tonnes of radioactive tailings waste. The Jabiluka mine will produce 20 million tonnes of waste.
At Ranger the waste is put in a dam. At Jabiluka the tailings will be buried and put in dams. In both cases the tailings will be subject to water and wind erosion and cause groundwater contamination. Ranger has been plagued by water management problems since the mine began and regularly releases contaminated water into Kakadu against the wishes of Aboriginal people. The tailings waste is radioactive for over 250,000 years.
World Heritage In Danger
The Jabiluka proposal will have a significant and long-term adverse impact on the cultural and natural world heritage values of Kakadu National Park. For this reason, Mirrar and environment groups have lobbied the World Heritage Committee to list Kakadu "in danger". As yet, an in danger listing has not been granted, despite the recommendations of all the scientific advisory committees. However, the World Heritage Committee have made several stringent recommendations that must be fulfilled by the Australian government and reviewed in April 2000. One of these conditions is that ERA must not mine at Jabiluka for the next 18 months. Other conditions will see that Aboriginal people will be given access to decent health and education facilities that have otherwise been denied.
Flawed Approval Process
The Jabiluka project has gone through two Commonwealth approval processes under the Environment Protection (Impact of Proposals) Act 1974. The government received thousands of submissions to the 1997 Jabiluka Environmental Impact Statement urging the project not to proceed. In reporting to the Minister, Environment Australia (the Minister's own department) raised serious concerns about the long-term damage to the environment, Aboriginal people and World Heritage values. Nevertheless, Senator Robert Hill recommended that the Jabiluka project proceed. Despite this, the Mirrar people, several environment organisations and thousands of people across Australia still fight to stop the Jabiluka mine.
The Mine Is Not Financially Viable
Environment Resources Australia (ERA) have to construct uranium processing facilities at Jabiluka. They would prefer to process uranium at existing facilities at Ranger, 22km south. However, under the terms of the original contract they must process at Jabiluka. Mirrar have right of veto over changes to the terms of the contract and have refused to allow milling at Ranger. This means that ERA are stuck with the Jabiluka Mill Alternative (JMA). It is estimated that the extra cost of building milling facilities at Jabiluka will be in the order of $200-300 million. This is equivalent to 10-15 years of ERA's current after-tax profit. According to the London based Uranium Institute there will be a glut of uranium and other fissile materials on the market for at least 10 years. Uranium prices have been depressed for a very long time. In addition several large and inexpensive mines are set to commence production in Canada and Eastern Europe in the near future. ERA share prices continue to under perform against all indexes, including resource stocks. Both ERA and its parent company North Ltd have no competitive advantage in uranium mining on the global market. Key institutional investors such as Westpac are on notice for their involvement in ERA and North Ltd. Other shareholders are being informed about the unethical practices of ERA and North Ltd and are being told about the financial risks associated with investing in these corporations.
Uranium: Deadly Fuel
Uranium is the raw material for the nuclear industry. It is the most lethal industrial process known to humanity. It produces nuclear weapons and radioactive wastes that are highly toxic for hundreds of thousands of years. By 2015 there will be 250,000 tonnes of high-level nuclear waste. There is still no method for the safe isolation of this waste from the environment for the periods of time they remain lethal.Australia's involvement in uranium mining means the abuse of human rights, and a direct and measurable threat to health and environment for at least 200 generations. It must end now.
Not Kakadu.Not Anywhere. Stop Uranium Mining.
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