Mining

30 September 2002

Kakadu Uranium Mines Under The Spotlight

Major Regulatory Changes Required

The Environment Centre NT will today present evidence to a Senate Inquiry into the 'Environmental Regulation of Uranium Mining' at its Darwin hearings. Hearings will be held today in NT Parliament House. The inquiry follows a number of recent leaks, incidents and reporting failures at Rio Tinto's Kakadu uranium mines and also at the Beverley and Honeymoon uranium mines in South Australia.

Environment Centre Coordinator Mark Wakeham said today:

"We will be telling the Inquiry Committee that the environmental performance of the Ranger and Jabiluka uranium mines has been unacceptable. We have seen a series of leaks of contaminated water and materials and at both sites serious water management problems are emerging. Major incidents in 2000 and 2002 at Ranger mine do not seem to have led to any change in company culture or performance."

"We will also be raising our concerns about the inadequacies of the regulation governing uranium mining in the Northern Territory. Too often we have seen the Commonwealth and NT Government regulators fail to respond appropriately to problems on the mine sites. In particular the lack of an Environment Protection Authority in the NT increases the possibility of major incidents occurring and then not being investigated properly."

"Kakadu National Park deserves better than underperforming uranium mines and shoddy regulation. Hopefully the Senate Inquiry will offer some solutions to the persistent problems at Ranger uranium mine. At Jabiluka however the only way to resolve the situation is for Rio Tinto to fully rehabilitate the mine site and to work with the NT and Commonwealth Governments to hand the lease back to traditional owners for inclusion into Kakadu National Park."

For more information contact ECNT:
08 8981 1984 / 8985 3645
Email: ecnt@octa4.net.au

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