BY JIM GREEN
Multinational mining company Rio Tinto may now decide to complete construction of and then operate the Jabiluka uranium mine in the Northern Territory itself, it was revealed on March 14.
For several months Rio Tinto has been negotiating the sale of Energy Resources of Australia (ERA), owner of the Jabiluka mining lease and operator of the nearby Ranger uranium mine, with the French company Cogema seen as the most likely buyer. Rio acquired ERA in August, when it bought ERA's parent company North Ltd.
Rio Tinto's chief executive officer Leigh Clifford said on ABC radio on March 14 that the company is still assessing its options, but he also mentioned the possibility of Rio operating the mine itself.
"We're a mining company, we are quite capable of running mining operations profitably and with sensitivity for the environment and the people involved", Clifford said. He added that ERA's environmental performance has been "very solid", and that "some" Aborigines support the Jabiluka mine.
Clifford's comments were condemned by the Mirrar people, the traditional owners of Jabiluka. Mirrar spokesperson Jacqui Katona said in a March 14 statement, "There remains absolute opposition to the development of Jabiluka by the Mirrar traditional owners and Mr Clifford's comments indicate a campaign of bullying and strong-arm tactics".
Katona said unresolved issues being pursued by the Mirrar include the future of sacred sites and environmental management.
"Is Leigh Clifford willing to desecrate a sacred site and escalate negative social impacts on Aboriginal people to save face on an acquisition minor to the overall Rio group? This will certainly raise further international attention. To date ERA has reaped the benefit of a 20-year campaign of transporting an artificial Aboriginal population to the Kakadu region. It is no surprise that Rio is claiming that Aboriginal people support the development of Jabiluka. It is the mining company that has created this so-called support", Katona said.
Katona said Rio has failed to meet its obligations regarding environmental management. "The serious and systemic failure of water management practices at both Ranger and Jabiluka belie the claim that ERA has environmental credibility. Only yesterday the Mirrar addressed the dumping of contaminated water from a storage pond at Jabiluka into the mineshaft", Katona said in the March 14 statement.
The Mirrar are demanding that the Australian government honour its commitment to UNESCO last December to appoint a water specialist to the Office of the Supervising Scientist. That demand followed news on February 13 that ERA had resorted to dumping contaminated water from an "interim water management pond" to the mineshaft in a bid to manage large volumes of water from the current wet season.
Katona said, "ERA claims this pond was designed to withstand a one in 10,000 year rainfall event and yet within just three years it has reached maximum capacity and the company has been forced to these desperate measures."