Jabiluka: the next uranium mine?

Jabiluka: the next uranium mine?

By Paul Roguszka DARWIN — The Jabiluka uranium deposit is situated about 22 km north of the Ranger mine, adjacent to the Magela Creek in the northern part of Kakadu National Park, from which it is excised. The mining lease called Jabiluka was explored and developed by Pancontinental in joint venture with the Getty Oil Company. In January 1975 the joint venturers estimated Jabiluka had uranium reserves of 205,000 tons at an average of 8 pounds uranium oxide per ton, worth approximately $9 billion at the time. In 1991 the Jabiluka ore deposit was sold to North Broken Hill for $125 million, a fraction of its estimated value. North Broken Hill had taken over Peko Wallsend and held the major interest in Energy Resources Australia, the operators of the nearby Ranger mine. ERA now owns the Jabiluka deposit and calls it Ranger North. Initially ERA tried to argue that Ranger North (Jabiluka) was the same deposit as Ranger in order to get around the Labor Party's "three mines" policy. To date the Jabiluka deposit is undeveloped, but ERA has a plan to build an underground mine there and mill the ore at Ranger. On December 11 in the Northern Territory News there was a seemingly innocent item about tourist development in Jabiru, titled "Cultural Festival to Lure Tourists". The Jabiru Town Council commissioned a West Australian market research company, Market Equity, to recommend strategies to attract tourism. One of the strategies, to quote from the News, was "lobbying the N.T. government for funds to build the bridge at Magela Creek, allowing all year access to the tourist spot Ubirr". In 1978 Pancontinental had considered a bridge over the Magela Creek to be absolutely essential for development of the Jabiluka deposit. Accordingly, it looked for federal government approval, which it got at a cabinet meeting chaired by the then deputy prime minister, Doug Anthony. Subsequently Pancontinental spent over $1 million on materials for the bridge. The negotiations with the Northern Land Council over the Ranger lease were finalised about the same time, and the agreement was about to be signed. The NLC found out about the decision to build the bridge and vehemently opposed it. The Ranger agreement was under threat. Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser, in Darwin for the signing, was suddenly thrust back into negotiations. A deal was made and the bridge approval was dropped so that the Ranger agreement could go ahead. In 1978 Pancontinental was willing to build a bridge at its own expense so as to develop the massive ore body, recognising the vast profits to be made. In 1996, under the guise of development for tourism, it is suggested that the taxpayer pay for the bridge while the profits for the miner will be no less. A deal was made with the NLC, a deal which must be honoured, certainly not reneged upon for spurious reasons like tourist access to Ubirr. As in 1978, a bridge is essential for all year access. There is only one reason for a bridge over the Magela Creek now, and that is to facilitate the development of the Ranger North uranium ore deposit.
[Paul Roguszka is a member of ENuFF (Everyone For a Nuclear Free Future)].