Mining

The Koongarra uranium deposit was discovered by Noranda (Australia) Ltd in 1970. The Koongarra mineral lease, about 12.5 km2, is located on Aboriginal land and is surrounded by the World Heritage listed Kakadu National Park. Koongarra is in the South Alligator river catchment, an area that was intended for protection by Kakadu National Park.

The Koongarra area is one of the most sensitive areas of the Park, situated upstream of the Woolwonga wetlands, one of the wetlands systems listed in the Ramsar Convention. The 1977 Ranger Uranium Environmental Inquiry Second Report (the Fox Report) which recommended mining at Ranger explicitly stated: "If uranium mining proceeds, it should be restricted, west of the Arnhem Land Reserve, to one drainage basin, so that environmental damage from mining can be geographically contained. We recognise that. the company concerned will have expectations to mine the Koongarra deposit. However the Woolwonga area is so valuable ecologically that we oppose in principle any mining development upstream of it". (pp.289)

The Koongarra deposit is situated about 3 km east of Nourlangie Rock, a well-known tourist attraction in Kakadu visited by around 90% of the 230,000 tourists who visit Kakadu annually. One of the lookouts at Nourlangie overlooks the Koongarra lease and project area.

The Koongarra proposal was subject to a draft EIS in 1978, however following attempts to realign the boundaries of the mineral lease (as a large part of the ore-body was actually outside the mineral lease) and the election of an ALP Federal Government with a 3 named uranium mines policy in 1983, plans to develop the mine were shelved.

Following the election of the Howard Government in 1996, the new owners of the Koongarra lease, Koongarra Ltd (100% owned by Cogema, the notorious French nuclear subsidiary) sought traditional owner consent to the issue of an exploration licence. Under the NT Land Rights Act this is the only stage at which a company requires traditional owner consent- consent for exploration activities is interpreted as consent to mine. The Northern Land Council full Council meeting of April 2000 resolved to refuse consent to the Koongarra uranium mine. The decision came after a meeting of traditional owners in December 1999 where it was decided not to consent to the mine. The resolution of the Northern Land Council asserted that the issue of mining at Koongarra would not be revisited for another 5 years (before April 2005). Following the decision Koongarra Ltd shut its Darwin office.

In 1998 a World Heritage Committee Mission visited Kakadu National Park to assess the potential impacts of the proposed Jabiluka uranium mine. The Mission made a series of recommendations including recommendation 13- "that all efforts be made to seek the agreement with the traditional owners to include the third Mineral Lease, the Koongarra Mineral Lease, in the Park and therefore preclude mining. The Australian Government in its detailed response to the World Heritage mission (Australia's Kakadu, April 1999) referred to recommendation 13 and stated that "this recommendation is supported in principle". As yet there have been no discussions with traditional owners about incorporating the lease into the National Park

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