By Anne Pavy
PERTH — Two of the six new uranium mines proposed by the federal Coalition government are in Western Australia: at the Kintyre deposit in the Rudall River National Park and at Yeelirrie, near Kalgoorlie. Since the early '80s state governments of both persuasions have allowed exploration for uranium deposits in these areas.
The Kintyre deposit inside the northern boundary of the Rudall River National Park — the largest national park in WA — has everything controversial about it: a uranium mine, in a national park, on Aboriginal land. The park is on the edge of the Great Sandy Desert, 500 kilometres east of Port Hedland.
No sooner had the park been declared in 1986 than the Burke Labor government permitted exploration. By May 1986, 38 exploration leases had been granted, covering the middle section of the park.
CRA has spent at least $30 million on establishing a camp for 40-50 people on site and on exploration drilling. Core samples have been flown direct to CRA headquarters in Melbourne, although now an analysis and evaluation capability has been established on site.
Many local Aborigines are not at all happy. According to Billy Gibbs of the Punmu community, "When the wind blows from the west, dust will blow to Pangurr [an Aboriginal settlement]. We can see the dangers; we're frightened of the dust ... Aboriginal people are not happy for that mine to start."
The Yeelirrie project will also affect indigenous people. Yeelirrie is a corruption of an Aboriginal word meaning "place of death". A company town with a projected population of 850 is proposed two kilometres from an Aboriginal sacred site. Western Mining Corporation says the site could be protected if it moved the town, but it is reluctant to do so. Water for the mine would be pumped from bores, causing water tables in the area to drop.
WMC plans to use tailings dams to retain waste from the mining process, which, with leaching and flooding, could lead to radioactive contamination.
There are other options for disposing of the waste which would be less damaging to the environment, but they are more expensive and take more time. They include returning the tailings to the mine site or, better still, constructing an open pit, which would require the development of an extensive rehabilitation plan, which is now lacking.
Ignored are the social and environmental implications of uranium mining. They include: public subsidies to prop up uneconomic ventures; the problem of disposing safely of nuclear waste; environmental damage from nuclear power; and the spread of nuclear weapons.