Posted on October 16, 2009 by archiearchive FCD
Here in the Rudall River National Park we are soon to discover that a National Park is just like your back yard.
If there is a mineral there and someone wants to mine it, they can and will mine it.
In our case, the mineral is uranium and the back yard is the home of the traditional Martu people. A place where they hunt, where they swim in the water holes and where the footprint of man is washed away with the next season’s rains.
Unless they are the men are from Cameco. In which case they will mine uranium from a parcel of land which used to be a part of a gazetted National Park. This parcel was excised from the Park by a Government decree.
So for maybe seven or ten years a mine will operate and then the miners will leave.
Left behind will be the pollution they promise won’t happen.
Just like at the Ranger Uranium Mine in the Kakadu National Park. I mean “the Ranger Uranium Mine with-in the Kakadu National Park.” For that was another parcel of land excised from a National Park.
There are 100,000 litres of contaminated water leaking into the ground water each day from the Ranger mine. The Australian Government says we should not be worried about this.
And they are quite correct. There is no need for any politician in Canberra, no bureaucrat in his ivory tower or any mining executive in his overseas mansion to worry about that contamination. After all, his children and grand children will not hunt the land, relying on the groundwater for their life. They will not swim in the contaminated water holes nor eat the fish caught in those waterholes.
No uranium mine in Australia has failed to pollute the land it is on or the land outside the mine’s boundaries.
But the Government tells us we should not worry.
http://archiearchive.wordpress.com/2009/10/16/uranium-mining-in-a-national-park-2/
Showing posts with label Australia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Australia. Show all posts
Friday, October 16, 2009
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
The case against uranium mining/The case for uranium mining
The blue is caused by copper contamination, but there could also be other heavy metals present (came from the uranium mine, all metals were mined, this happen after a flood!)
Comment: Please read the two letters about uranium mining!
The case against uranium mining
14/10/2009 8:39:00 AM
A LONG term North West cattle station owner believes primary producers need to be consulted on how their land would be affected by uranium mining before any decision on the industry’s future was made.
Margaret Campbell owned the “Rosebud” cattle station, which bordered the former Mary Kathleen uranium mine near Cloncurry, while it was still in operation from the 1950s to the 80s.
She said she had seen firsthand how a uranium mine could be a health and economic problem for those living in such close proximity to the site.
She can remember a flock of ducks being killed instantly when they landed on a nearby creek that allegedly contained radioactive water.
“I can remember the pipes at the mine breaking and this horrible grey stuff running past my kitchen window,” she said.
“The message the mine sent back was it is only the tailings but don’t let your kids play in it.”
Mrs Campbell said creek overflows during the wet season would destroy surrounding vegetation.
“It can’t all be cleared away – it stays radioactive. Cattle producers wouldn’t be able to sell their cattle if they’re contaminated and it would be hard to know which cattle are contaminated. The government and the mining companies need to talk to producers before any decision was made,” she said.
“It is not really the kind of industry you want around.”
The case for uranium mining
14/10/2009 8:40:00 AM
IT WOULD take about three years for a uranium mining industry to be established in Mount Isa if the Queensland Government was to give the go-ahead for the industry to begin, a leading industry expert has said.
Alan J Eggers served as the managing director of Summit Resources when the company began developing uranium exploration in the Mount Isa region from 1990.
He is currently the executive chairman of Manhattan Corporation Limited, a public listed company with uranium interests in Western Australia.
As a long term uranium industry figurehead and among the first to explore sections of the North West for the controversial mineral, he has seen the debate for and against uranium mining rise and fall on the political agenda during the past two decades.
However, he believes it was “inevitable” Queensland would begin uranium mining.
He said advanced exploration had already been conducted throughout the North West and companies were simply waiting for the State Government to give the industry the thumbs up.
“We have everything in place to export uranium - including the skills, the knowledge and the ports – the only thing standing in the way is the political will,” he said.
“There are already uranium mines in Australia and several other mining leases in Western Australia being considered. So Queensland is simply losing out on royalties and revenue by not allowing uranium mining.”
In Australia, the industry produces uranium entirely for export.
Uranium is exported under a framework of anti- nuclear weapons proliferation safeguards and strict health, safety and environmental regulations.
Full year exploration statistics released last month by the Australian Bureau of Statistics show a 20 per cent decline in uranium exploration Australia-wide, compared with 2007-08 (from about $231 million to $185 million).
In Queensland, exploration spending during the year was weaker, although spending in the June quarter ($6.3 million) was up slightly on March.
http://www.northweststar.com.au/news/local/news/general/the-case-for-uranium-mining/1648705.aspx?src=rss
The case against uranium mining
14/10/2009 8:39:00 AM
A LONG term North West cattle station owner believes primary producers need to be consulted on how their land would be affected by uranium mining before any decision on the industry’s future was made.
Margaret Campbell owned the “Rosebud” cattle station, which bordered the former Mary Kathleen uranium mine near Cloncurry, while it was still in operation from the 1950s to the 80s.
She said she had seen firsthand how a uranium mine could be a health and economic problem for those living in such close proximity to the site.
She can remember a flock of ducks being killed instantly when they landed on a nearby creek that allegedly contained radioactive water.
“I can remember the pipes at the mine breaking and this horrible grey stuff running past my kitchen window,” she said.
“The message the mine sent back was it is only the tailings but don’t let your kids play in it.”
Mrs Campbell said creek overflows during the wet season would destroy surrounding vegetation.
“It can’t all be cleared away – it stays radioactive. Cattle producers wouldn’t be able to sell their cattle if they’re contaminated and it would be hard to know which cattle are contaminated. The government and the mining companies need to talk to producers before any decision was made,” she said.
“It is not really the kind of industry you want around.”
The case for uranium mining
14/10/2009 8:40:00 AM
IT WOULD take about three years for a uranium mining industry to be established in Mount Isa if the Queensland Government was to give the go-ahead for the industry to begin, a leading industry expert has said.
Alan J Eggers served as the managing director of Summit Resources when the company began developing uranium exploration in the Mount Isa region from 1990.
He is currently the executive chairman of Manhattan Corporation Limited, a public listed company with uranium interests in Western Australia.
As a long term uranium industry figurehead and among the first to explore sections of the North West for the controversial mineral, he has seen the debate for and against uranium mining rise and fall on the political agenda during the past two decades.
However, he believes it was “inevitable” Queensland would begin uranium mining.
He said advanced exploration had already been conducted throughout the North West and companies were simply waiting for the State Government to give the industry the thumbs up.
“We have everything in place to export uranium - including the skills, the knowledge and the ports – the only thing standing in the way is the political will,” he said.
“There are already uranium mines in Australia and several other mining leases in Western Australia being considered. So Queensland is simply losing out on royalties and revenue by not allowing uranium mining.”
In Australia, the industry produces uranium entirely for export.
Uranium is exported under a framework of anti- nuclear weapons proliferation safeguards and strict health, safety and environmental regulations.
Full year exploration statistics released last month by the Australian Bureau of Statistics show a 20 per cent decline in uranium exploration Australia-wide, compared with 2007-08 (from about $231 million to $185 million).
In Queensland, exploration spending during the year was weaker, although spending in the June quarter ($6.3 million) was up slightly on March.
http://www.northweststar.com.au/news/local/news/general/the-case-for-uranium-mining/1648705.aspx?src=rss
Saturday, September 26, 2009
FILMMAKER DAVID BRADBURY: RED DUST DUMP ORIGINATING AT WOOMERA IS GRAVE CONCERN FOR PUBLIC HEALTH (uranium mining)
70 million tonnes per year of radioactive tailings finely pulverised into dust size particles are concerning with dust storms like this one, a frequent occurance!
FILMMAKER DAVID BRADBURY: RED DUST DUMP ORIGINATING AT WOOMERA IS GRAVE CONCERN FOR PUBLIC HEALTH
Posted on September 25, 2009 by Coober Pedy Regional Times
Round two of fierce dust from the Woomera-Roxby Downs area hits Coober Pedy on its way to the east coast of Australia again today !
Posted on September 25, 2009 by Coober Pedy Regional Times
Round two of fierce dust from the Woomera-Roxby Downs area hits Coober Pedy on its way to the east coast of Australia again today !
“70 million tonnes of radioactive tailings to be dumped at the Roxby mine site each year without evidence of dust control is cause for concern”, says David Bradbury
A vigorous front moving across South Australia for the second day this week, with west to southwest winds averaging 60-70 km/h are with damaging wind gusts in excess of 90 km/h are causing grave concerns for public health.
Fierce dust storms which nearly blotted out Sydney has reached New Zealand The accumulation of dust which built momentum as violent winds carried it across Australia, originated at Woomera in the South Australian western desert also the site of the Maralinga Nuclear bomb tests where lethal plutonium from failed cleanup attempts will stay active for a quarter of a million years.
Woomera is also situated next to the BHP Billiton Olympic Dam uranium mine currently hoping to expand its operations.
Filmmaker David Bradbury speaks of concerns of dust storms from South Australian uranium mining areas impacting on the health of Australians.
Academy Award nominated documentary maker David Bradbury has spoken out, raising public concerns of the red dust dumped onto east coast cities this week as concerning with BHP Billiton proposing to turn South Australia’s Olympic Dam uranium mine into an open-cut mine larger than Adelaide.
Minister for Mines and energy, Paul Holloway says that dust is a problem, which will need to be looked into at the Olympic Dam mine.
BHP Billiton have refused to discuss “in public,” an issue which has the potential to effect the health of the entire population of Australia.
The public are also wondering with the proposed life of the mine, where the water will come from to contain radioactive tailings of such magnitude.
David Bradbury is a former ABC trained radio journalist and a respected internationally recognised filmmaker with two Oscar nominations and a host of other prizes to his credit plus broadcasting docos around the world for the last 30 years.
David who has credits of four documentaries on nuclear issues says BHP Billiton’s environmental impact study which reflects that the 70 million tonnes of radioactive tailings to be dumped at the Roxby minesite each year without evidence of dust control, is alarming particularly in light of the growing cancer related illnesses across the country. “We are talking about alpha radiation which these tailings contain and are known to be carcinogenic to humans and animals”, David said.
David’s concern is that with the open-cut mine expansion that BHP Billiton is trying to achieve permission from state and federal governments to go ahead, with radioactive tailings left behind to blow over the heavily populated cities of the rest of Australia.
Bradbury whose humanitarian work had involved raising awareness of the many harmful facets of the uranium process, says “The level of contamination brought to the surface and just dumped there by BHP Billiton every year for the life of the mine – up to 100 years – will be one of the, if not THE most environmentally criminal act of any mining company in the history of Australia”.
“It is not a melodramatic statement when you know what I know of the science of it, the radical impact and triggering of cancers at low levels of radiation once they enter the body and what they do to the human (or for that matter, any species…) once in the cell and its impact on the DNA”, said the filmmaker.
David continues: “This fact is not appreciated by our pollies, or the public health authorities who are behind the eight ball of what scientists without a similar voice in their media in Europe, Japan and Canada have been trying to point out for the last decade and more. We´re living under a false and outdated regimen of what is considered by public health authorities to be ´a safe level of radiation´our human bodies can withstand.
The mainstream media have had the game of misinformation all stitched up in not researching and challenging that which concerns the public on the health of generations to come. The Olympic Dam expansion is a monumental disaster if allowed to go ahead and will wash over the face of Australia forever.
David who has credits of four documentaries on nuclear issues says BHP Billiton’s environmental impact study which reflects that the 70 million tonnes of radioactive tailings to be dumped at the Roxby minesite each year without evidence of dust control, is alarming particularly in light of the growing cancer related illnesses across the country. “We are talking about alpha radiation which these tailings contain and are known to be carcinogenic to humans and animals”, David said.
David’s concern is that with the open-cut mine expansion that BHP Billiton is trying to achieve permission from state and federal governments to go ahead, with radioactive tailings left behind to blow over the heavily populated cities of the rest of Australia.
Bradbury whose humanitarian work had involved raising awareness of the many harmful facets of the uranium process, says “The level of contamination brought to the surface and just dumped there by BHP Billiton every year for the life of the mine – up to 100 years – will be one of the, if not THE most environmentally criminal act of any mining company in the history of Australia”.
“It is not a melodramatic statement when you know what I know of the science of it, the radical impact and triggering of cancers at low levels of radiation once they enter the body and what they do to the human (or for that matter, any species…) once in the cell and its impact on the DNA”, said the filmmaker.
David continues: “This fact is not appreciated by our pollies, or the public health authorities who are behind the eight ball of what scientists without a similar voice in their media in Europe, Japan and Canada have been trying to point out for the last decade and more. We´re living under a false and outdated regimen of what is considered by public health authorities to be ´a safe level of radiation´our human bodies can withstand.
The mainstream media have had the game of misinformation all stitched up in not researching and challenging that which concerns the public on the health of generations to come. The Olympic Dam expansion is a monumental disaster if allowed to go ahead and will wash over the face of Australia forever.
Those tailings are radioactive for 4.5 billion years. Most of the radioactivity in the tailings stays in the fine dust once they extract the copper, gold and uranium.
It is only 1000 kms to Melbourne as the crow flies. 1350 km to Sydney as the wind blows. And that is the direction Easterly – that the prevailing winds blow from Roxby.
Seventy million tonnes each year dug out of the huge hole in the ground and dumped there for the next 100 years once they take out the valuable minerals. Radioactive polonium, thorium, radium, bismuth, radioactive lead…and what uranium they can´t finally extract is all left behind in the tailings and will be just dumped there according to BHPB´s hitherto released plans for ´environmental protection´.
Those radioactive heavy metals (above) are always found in association with uranium, are not commercially viable or of any monetary use to BHP. That is why they just want to dump them at the mine´s surface. Too huge a volume and people´s awareness on scarcity of water such that they will not be able to dump them under water in holding dams as they do now, to leach into the surrounding water table.
Then there is the release of radon gas into the surface of the air when they mine uranium, particularly open cut mine. Radon gas released from the dug up uranium is seven times heavier than air so it does not evaporate into ´space´ but hugs the earth and attaches itself to water molecules (which we or livestock or native animals drink), can be breathed into our lungs like the radioactive dust particles from the tailings thus triggering cancers and birth defects or attaches itself to growing crops and vegetation which we also eat.
Radon gas has a radioactive half life of 3.8 days (when airborne) so in that half life it can easily blow on a light wind of 20 kph to Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane etc. People don´t even know they are breathing it in because it is odourless. So the triggering of cancers begins… which doesn´t come out for 20 years or more. And how can you shaft home responsibility to the board of BHP and its CEO then who will be long gone or moved onto greener pastures in that time?
Dust from a South Australian dust storm reaches parts of New Zealand.
In kids radon or radioactive particles inhaled or eaten dust has a rapid impact, with maybe five years to trigger childhood or teen cancers because their cells are dividing more rapidly than adults who have stopped growing.
So the mutations in the cell from either the radioactive dust inhaled, eaten or from the radon gas alpha particle inhalation, ingestion etc precipitates the cancers faster in a child in the womb, young kids or teenagers because the cells are dividing faster and the mutated cells are created and multiply faster in the young.
That´s what cancer is – mutated cells which multiply and form tumours as a result which then take over the body and finally destroy it”.
The South Australian Bureau of meteorology announced that gusts around 100 km/h have been observed at Coles Point and Woomera with a number of other locations such as Broken Hill reporting severe dust and others reporting gusts near 90 km/h.
Flinders residents stayed indoors watching the eerie orange dust engulf their homes
The State Emergency Service advises that people should:
* Move vehicles under cover or away from trees;
* Secure or put away loose items around your property.
* Stay indoors, away from windows, while conditions are severe.
The Australian: “– the longest dust storm in living memory, red desert sands delivering a stinging slap to the face from dawn until close to midnight as they picked up small pebbles from the opal-mined ground.
It is believed it originally lifted off around Maralinga, site of the British atomic tests in the 1950s and 1960s.
But locals like council worker Duncan McLaren went about their daily business and thought little of it, until a day later when they saw images of the harbour city 2000km away, covered in the same red haze which had engulfed their town……………….”
http://cooberpedyregionaltimes.wordpress.com/2009/09/25/filmmaker-david-bradbury-red-dust-dump-originating-at-woomera-is-grave-concern-for-public-health/
It's back: more dust blankets east coast (Australia )
Posted Sat Sep 26, 2009 5:07am AEST
Updated Sat Sep 26, 2009 12:24pm AEST
The second dust storm in a week has blanketed much of New South Wales and Queensland's south-west.
High winds have blown huge dust clouds from South Australia since yesterday afternoon.
In Cunnumulla, in Queensland's south-west, visibility is down to 500 metres, but the weather bureau says the storm is expected to disperse as it heads east.
Flights are not expected to be affected.
The dust is also sweeping through parts of western and central New South Wales, including Sydney.
But forecasters say the impact on the NSW capital is unlikely to be as bad as the storm on Wednesday, which bathed the city in red, orange and yellow hues.
Visibility has been reduced and is likely to stay that way for a couple of hours, but the area of dust seems much smaller, a Bureau of Meteorology spokesman said.
Health authorities are warning people to exercise caution and monitor weather reports.
They are advising asthmatics to avoid exercising outdoors in the morning.
At Young in New South Wales' south-west, resident BJ Wyse says he can taste the dust in his house.
"Standing outside my place now looking at the clock tower, it's about half a kilometre away. You can just see it, with the thickness of it, you can just see the town lights," he said.
"It's just like a red glow. I just talked to a friend of mine in Cootamundra and it's going through there as well, so yep, it's back again."
On Wednesday, Sydney awoke to an eerie red dawn after strong north-westerly winds dumped thousands of tonnes of dust on the harbour city, the Hunter Valley, Wollongong and the state's west.
Hours later the dust cleared from Sydney and arrived in Brisbane, hampering firefighting efforts in southern Queensland by temporarily grounding water bombing helicopters.
The poor visibility affected transport across the affected regions, slowing traffic and causing long delays at airports.
Emergency services received hundreds of phone calls from people with breathing difficulties.
The New South Wales Health Department is advising residents to check the Environment and Climate Change website for health warnings and to monitor weather reports.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/09/26/2697261.htm?WT.mc_id=newsmail
It is only 1000 kms to Melbourne as the crow flies. 1350 km to Sydney as the wind blows. And that is the direction Easterly – that the prevailing winds blow from Roxby.
Seventy million tonnes each year dug out of the huge hole in the ground and dumped there for the next 100 years once they take out the valuable minerals. Radioactive polonium, thorium, radium, bismuth, radioactive lead…and what uranium they can´t finally extract is all left behind in the tailings and will be just dumped there according to BHPB´s hitherto released plans for ´environmental protection´.
Those radioactive heavy metals (above) are always found in association with uranium, are not commercially viable or of any monetary use to BHP. That is why they just want to dump them at the mine´s surface. Too huge a volume and people´s awareness on scarcity of water such that they will not be able to dump them under water in holding dams as they do now, to leach into the surrounding water table.
Then there is the release of radon gas into the surface of the air when they mine uranium, particularly open cut mine. Radon gas released from the dug up uranium is seven times heavier than air so it does not evaporate into ´space´ but hugs the earth and attaches itself to water molecules (which we or livestock or native animals drink), can be breathed into our lungs like the radioactive dust particles from the tailings thus triggering cancers and birth defects or attaches itself to growing crops and vegetation which we also eat.
Radon gas has a radioactive half life of 3.8 days (when airborne) so in that half life it can easily blow on a light wind of 20 kph to Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane etc. People don´t even know they are breathing it in because it is odourless. So the triggering of cancers begins… which doesn´t come out for 20 years or more. And how can you shaft home responsibility to the board of BHP and its CEO then who will be long gone or moved onto greener pastures in that time?
Dust from a South Australian dust storm reaches parts of New Zealand.
In kids radon or radioactive particles inhaled or eaten dust has a rapid impact, with maybe five years to trigger childhood or teen cancers because their cells are dividing more rapidly than adults who have stopped growing.
So the mutations in the cell from either the radioactive dust inhaled, eaten or from the radon gas alpha particle inhalation, ingestion etc precipitates the cancers faster in a child in the womb, young kids or teenagers because the cells are dividing faster and the mutated cells are created and multiply faster in the young.
That´s what cancer is – mutated cells which multiply and form tumours as a result which then take over the body and finally destroy it”.
The South Australian Bureau of meteorology announced that gusts around 100 km/h have been observed at Coles Point and Woomera with a number of other locations such as Broken Hill reporting severe dust and others reporting gusts near 90 km/h.
Flinders residents stayed indoors watching the eerie orange dust engulf their homes
The State Emergency Service advises that people should:
* Move vehicles under cover or away from trees;
* Secure or put away loose items around your property.
* Stay indoors, away from windows, while conditions are severe.
The Australian: “– the longest dust storm in living memory, red desert sands delivering a stinging slap to the face from dawn until close to midnight as they picked up small pebbles from the opal-mined ground.
It is believed it originally lifted off around Maralinga, site of the British atomic tests in the 1950s and 1960s.
But locals like council worker Duncan McLaren went about their daily business and thought little of it, until a day later when they saw images of the harbour city 2000km away, covered in the same red haze which had engulfed their town……………….”
http://cooberpedyregionaltimes.wordpress.com/2009/09/25/filmmaker-david-bradbury-red-dust-dump-originating-at-woomera-is-grave-concern-for-public-health/
It's back: more dust blankets east coast (Australia )
Posted Sat Sep 26, 2009 5:07am AEST
Updated Sat Sep 26, 2009 12:24pm AEST
The second dust storm in a week has blanketed much of New South Wales and Queensland's south-west.
High winds have blown huge dust clouds from South Australia since yesterday afternoon.
In Cunnumulla, in Queensland's south-west, visibility is down to 500 metres, but the weather bureau says the storm is expected to disperse as it heads east.
Flights are not expected to be affected.
The dust is also sweeping through parts of western and central New South Wales, including Sydney.
But forecasters say the impact on the NSW capital is unlikely to be as bad as the storm on Wednesday, which bathed the city in red, orange and yellow hues.
Visibility has been reduced and is likely to stay that way for a couple of hours, but the area of dust seems much smaller, a Bureau of Meteorology spokesman said.
Health authorities are warning people to exercise caution and monitor weather reports.
They are advising asthmatics to avoid exercising outdoors in the morning.
At Young in New South Wales' south-west, resident BJ Wyse says he can taste the dust in his house.
"Standing outside my place now looking at the clock tower, it's about half a kilometre away. You can just see it, with the thickness of it, you can just see the town lights," he said.
"It's just like a red glow. I just talked to a friend of mine in Cootamundra and it's going through there as well, so yep, it's back again."
On Wednesday, Sydney awoke to an eerie red dawn after strong north-westerly winds dumped thousands of tonnes of dust on the harbour city, the Hunter Valley, Wollongong and the state's west.
Hours later the dust cleared from Sydney and arrived in Brisbane, hampering firefighting efforts in southern Queensland by temporarily grounding water bombing helicopters.
The poor visibility affected transport across the affected regions, slowing traffic and causing long delays at airports.
Emergency services received hundreds of phone calls from people with breathing difficulties.
The New South Wales Health Department is advising residents to check the Environment and Climate Change website for health warnings and to monitor weather reports.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/09/26/2697261.htm?WT.mc_id=newsmail
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Marathon fight over what lies beneath the Flinders Ranges
Comment: No to uranium mining!
Pia Akerman and Michael Owen September 07, 2009
Article from: The Australian
SINCE the 1890s, the rolling mountains and red cliffs of the Flinders Ranges have drawn those seeking treasures below the earth.
In the 1930s, Antarctic explorer Douglas Mawson was struck by the geological promise of the harsh terrain, in particular an area known as Arkaroola, 700km north of Adelaide. Since then, mining has had a presence at Arkaroola even after the area was declared a wilderness sanctuary in the 1960s. During World War II, prospectors were bringing uranium out by camel.
But now, the prospect of Marathon Resources continuing to explore for uranium, like many miners before it, has got people worked up.
The anti-Marathon lobby is made up of an array of strange bedfellows including greenies, scientists, tourists and politicians - most notably federal Liberal heavyweight Nick Minchin, who, as resources minister, approved the nearby Beverley uranium mine. They are stepping up a campaign urging the Rann government not to let Marathon continue its work.
The company's mineral exploration licence is up for renewal next month and, with it, the controversy that first erupted when Marathon was caught illegally dumping uranium drilling waste in December 2007. Marathon's drilling program was indefinitely suspended by the state government last year, an action that will not be reviewed until at least the end of this year.
Pressure is mounting on the South Australian government not to let the company, once described by Premier Mike Rann as "cowboys", resume its activities.
Marg Sprigg and her brother Doug - owners of the Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary and the hotel that sits within it, but not what lies under the ground - have led the charge. As flocks of grey nomads visit every year, they have a vested interest in keeping the area protected.
Ms Sprigg, a geologist like her father, denies she is anti-mining. She stresses how pleased the Spriggs were with the conduct of another mining company that explored Arkaroola in the late 1980s. "They did things properly, taking rigs and staff in and out by helicopter," she said. "That's 20 years ago, and you would think that 20 years on there would be more improvement in the way things are done."
Canadian backpacker Abbie Larose, 24, landed in Arkaroola in July, after three months travelling around the east coast. She is now working at the Spriggs's hotel to save money for further travel.
"This sort of area shouldn't be touched," she said. "It should be left as is for people to come and visit."
Peter Williams, chairman of Marathon Resources, acknowledges the sensitivity of Arkaroola and insists the South Australian-based company has a strategy to balance the competing needs of environmentalism and commercialism. "It is a very special area that is sensitive and we respect that - I do not want to do anything that would harm that in the long term," he said.
"In the meantime, it would be an heroic event if people on all sides considered that we could co-exist. It happens in other parts of the world: why can't we do it here?
"There's an enormous resource of uranium in that area that could be developed for our total good, for our benefit long-term."
Marathon, which is being advised by its board director and former Labor senator lobbyist Chris Schacht, as well as an environmental-specialist lobbyist firm, has paid more than $1.8million during the past three years for workers to stay at the Arkaroola hotel, which Mr Williams said was at the request of the Sprigg family.
"Marg Sprigg has been trenchant in her opposition to us but, by the same token, her father Reg encouraged mining and exploration in that place for many, many years - it has 240km of mining roads all over it," he said.
Arkaroola is believed to contain Australia's fifth-biggest undeveloped uranium deposit, but Marathon is confident it is far larger and is fighting for the right to establish the true extent of the resource.
For the Rann government, which has been busy in recent years promoting the state's looming mining boom, it is a tricky predicament to balance green concerns with what is potentially on offer.
Mr Williams said any mining venture would employ about 350 people and provide a royalty stream for the government of $50m a year for up to 15 years.
"Nobody knows the extent of the uranium deposit and that's what we feel we should be obliged to complete," he said. "We need to explore and prove it."
Marathon may forever be haunted by its mistake in dumping drill tailings in plastic bags, ore samples and rubbish at the site, a move uncovered 18 months ago.
The incident led to amendments to the state's Mining Act, which will be introduced into the South Australian parliament this month. Once the amendments are passed, the government will consider lifting an indefinite suspension on the company's drilling program.
Ms Sprigg hopes South Australia's Mineral Resources Development Minister Paul Holloway, whom she describes as "fantastic" for taking action against Marathon, will cancel the company's right to operate in the area, but she is not optimistic.
"When I spoke to Dick Smith about this, he said: 'Jeepers, it would be like mining the Grand Canyon. We wouldn't do it,"' Ms Sprigg said. "If exploration led to mining in Arkaroola, I just think it would be an appalling thing.
"All the values of the place - scenic, ecological - they are all so precious. Why do we have to mine everything? Why do we have to take a chance of affecting things?"
Mr Williams does not want to dwell on the illegal dumping of uranium, other than to say he "regrets what happened (and) we fixed it".
He accepts the opposition of environmental groups such as the Wilderness Society is one of principle and they will never be swayed to accept uranium mining in Arkaroola.
When it comes to Senator Minchin's view, Mr Williams understands it is purely personal, but he does not underestimate the experience the Howard government minister brings to a strategic political campaign against the company.
He said the level of politicking was a "recognition by lots of those people that this is a very large opportunity for the state".
"There could be enormous value lost to this state and the country if we don't give it every shot to have a look at it. I am happy to go along with the debate until we resolve the issue as to whether we can mine it or not," Mr Williams said. Yet the Spriggs say they are galvanised in their opposition because of a promise their geologist father, Reg, made to Mawson 70 years ago.
Mawson asked Dr Sprigg, who was then heavily involved in early studies of the surrounding mountains, to ensure Arkaroola was protected for future generations. That promise helped prompt Dr Sprigg to buy Arkaroola in 1967 and turn it into a wilderness sanctuary.
Senator Minchin, a conservative factional powerbroker, provided commonwealth authorisation for the Beverly uranium mine in South Australia to proceed when a Howard government resources minister. He is the first to admit his alliance with the Greens against Marathon is an unlikely one.
But he has been a regular visitor to Arkaroola for the past 20 years and is focused on achieving a ban on further exploration and mining in the wilderness sanctuary, despite the potential economic benefits.
"There is nothing more damaging to South Australia than to put a uranium mine in Arkaroola, and I have been a long-term supporter of uranium mining in principle," Senator Minchin said. "But I do not support mining at any cost."
Mr Williams denies this is the approach Marathon would take.
"It takes time to work all these things out - we need to do some exploration work and then all the alternatives in mining are determined," he said.
In the meantime, the PR battle will rage on.
Mr Williams said he believed Marathon had the Rann government's "full support".
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/business/story/0,28124,26036377-5005200,00.html
Pia Akerman and Michael Owen September 07, 2009
Article from: The Australian
SINCE the 1890s, the rolling mountains and red cliffs of the Flinders Ranges have drawn those seeking treasures below the earth.
In the 1930s, Antarctic explorer Douglas Mawson was struck by the geological promise of the harsh terrain, in particular an area known as Arkaroola, 700km north of Adelaide. Since then, mining has had a presence at Arkaroola even after the area was declared a wilderness sanctuary in the 1960s. During World War II, prospectors were bringing uranium out by camel.
But now, the prospect of Marathon Resources continuing to explore for uranium, like many miners before it, has got people worked up.
The anti-Marathon lobby is made up of an array of strange bedfellows including greenies, scientists, tourists and politicians - most notably federal Liberal heavyweight Nick Minchin, who, as resources minister, approved the nearby Beverley uranium mine. They are stepping up a campaign urging the Rann government not to let Marathon continue its work.
The company's mineral exploration licence is up for renewal next month and, with it, the controversy that first erupted when Marathon was caught illegally dumping uranium drilling waste in December 2007. Marathon's drilling program was indefinitely suspended by the state government last year, an action that will not be reviewed until at least the end of this year.
Pressure is mounting on the South Australian government not to let the company, once described by Premier Mike Rann as "cowboys", resume its activities.
Marg Sprigg and her brother Doug - owners of the Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary and the hotel that sits within it, but not what lies under the ground - have led the charge. As flocks of grey nomads visit every year, they have a vested interest in keeping the area protected.
Ms Sprigg, a geologist like her father, denies she is anti-mining. She stresses how pleased the Spriggs were with the conduct of another mining company that explored Arkaroola in the late 1980s. "They did things properly, taking rigs and staff in and out by helicopter," she said. "That's 20 years ago, and you would think that 20 years on there would be more improvement in the way things are done."
Canadian backpacker Abbie Larose, 24, landed in Arkaroola in July, after three months travelling around the east coast. She is now working at the Spriggs's hotel to save money for further travel.
"This sort of area shouldn't be touched," she said. "It should be left as is for people to come and visit."
Peter Williams, chairman of Marathon Resources, acknowledges the sensitivity of Arkaroola and insists the South Australian-based company has a strategy to balance the competing needs of environmentalism and commercialism. "It is a very special area that is sensitive and we respect that - I do not want to do anything that would harm that in the long term," he said.
"In the meantime, it would be an heroic event if people on all sides considered that we could co-exist. It happens in other parts of the world: why can't we do it here?
"There's an enormous resource of uranium in that area that could be developed for our total good, for our benefit long-term."
Marathon, which is being advised by its board director and former Labor senator lobbyist Chris Schacht, as well as an environmental-specialist lobbyist firm, has paid more than $1.8million during the past three years for workers to stay at the Arkaroola hotel, which Mr Williams said was at the request of the Sprigg family.
"Marg Sprigg has been trenchant in her opposition to us but, by the same token, her father Reg encouraged mining and exploration in that place for many, many years - it has 240km of mining roads all over it," he said.
Arkaroola is believed to contain Australia's fifth-biggest undeveloped uranium deposit, but Marathon is confident it is far larger and is fighting for the right to establish the true extent of the resource.
For the Rann government, which has been busy in recent years promoting the state's looming mining boom, it is a tricky predicament to balance green concerns with what is potentially on offer.
Mr Williams said any mining venture would employ about 350 people and provide a royalty stream for the government of $50m a year for up to 15 years.
"Nobody knows the extent of the uranium deposit and that's what we feel we should be obliged to complete," he said. "We need to explore and prove it."
Marathon may forever be haunted by its mistake in dumping drill tailings in plastic bags, ore samples and rubbish at the site, a move uncovered 18 months ago.
The incident led to amendments to the state's Mining Act, which will be introduced into the South Australian parliament this month. Once the amendments are passed, the government will consider lifting an indefinite suspension on the company's drilling program.
Ms Sprigg hopes South Australia's Mineral Resources Development Minister Paul Holloway, whom she describes as "fantastic" for taking action against Marathon, will cancel the company's right to operate in the area, but she is not optimistic.
"When I spoke to Dick Smith about this, he said: 'Jeepers, it would be like mining the Grand Canyon. We wouldn't do it,"' Ms Sprigg said. "If exploration led to mining in Arkaroola, I just think it would be an appalling thing.
"All the values of the place - scenic, ecological - they are all so precious. Why do we have to mine everything? Why do we have to take a chance of affecting things?"
Mr Williams does not want to dwell on the illegal dumping of uranium, other than to say he "regrets what happened (and) we fixed it".
He accepts the opposition of environmental groups such as the Wilderness Society is one of principle and they will never be swayed to accept uranium mining in Arkaroola.
When it comes to Senator Minchin's view, Mr Williams understands it is purely personal, but he does not underestimate the experience the Howard government minister brings to a strategic political campaign against the company.
He said the level of politicking was a "recognition by lots of those people that this is a very large opportunity for the state".
"There could be enormous value lost to this state and the country if we don't give it every shot to have a look at it. I am happy to go along with the debate until we resolve the issue as to whether we can mine it or not," Mr Williams said. Yet the Spriggs say they are galvanised in their opposition because of a promise their geologist father, Reg, made to Mawson 70 years ago.
Mawson asked Dr Sprigg, who was then heavily involved in early studies of the surrounding mountains, to ensure Arkaroola was protected for future generations. That promise helped prompt Dr Sprigg to buy Arkaroola in 1967 and turn it into a wilderness sanctuary.
Senator Minchin, a conservative factional powerbroker, provided commonwealth authorisation for the Beverly uranium mine in South Australia to proceed when a Howard government resources minister. He is the first to admit his alliance with the Greens against Marathon is an unlikely one.
But he has been a regular visitor to Arkaroola for the past 20 years and is focused on achieving a ban on further exploration and mining in the wilderness sanctuary, despite the potential economic benefits.
"There is nothing more damaging to South Australia than to put a uranium mine in Arkaroola, and I have been a long-term supporter of uranium mining in principle," Senator Minchin said. "But I do not support mining at any cost."
Mr Williams denies this is the approach Marathon would take.
"It takes time to work all these things out - we need to do some exploration work and then all the alternatives in mining are determined," he said.
In the meantime, the PR battle will rage on.
Mr Williams said he believed Marathon had the Rann government's "full support".
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/business/story/0,28124,26036377-5005200,00.html
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Where the Green Ants Dream
Comment: Uranium minining needs to be stop now! Write your leaders and tell them to ban uranium mining now!
From Wikipedia
Where the Green Ants Dream (German: Wo die grünen Ameisen träumen) is a 1984 film by German film director Werner Herzog. It is set in the Australian desert and is about a land feud between a mining company and the native Aborigines. The Aborigines claim that an area the mining company wishes to work on is the place where green ants dream, and that disturbing them will destroy humanity. The film was entered into the 1984 Cannes Film Festival.[1]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Where_the_Green_Ants_Dream
Friday, August 7, 2009
Protesters decry BHP expansion
Hundreds of black balloons symbolising carbon emissions have been displayed outside Parliament House in Adelaide by opponents of the proposed Olympic Dam uranium mine expansion.
Comment: The Nukes are always saying, "Nuclear Power is CO2 free"! Well, nuke power is not CO2 free, from uranium mining and milling, trucks, building nuke plants is full of CO2! No to Uranium mining and Nuke Power!
7/08/2009 4:28:00 PM
A mass of black balloons covered the steps of the South Australian parliament like a shroud today in protest at BHP Billiton's proposed expansion of the Olympic Dam uranium mine.
Greens Legislative Council member Mark Parnell helped organise the rally in the final hours open for comment on the environmental impact statement (EIS) on the proposed expansion.
He said the black balloons were a poignant symbol of a proposal that should be sent back to the drawing board.
"The EIS reflects what the company wants to do, some of the things they want to do are clearly unsustainable, so they clearly do have to go back to the drawing board," he told AAP.
"Most people are familiar with the government's black balloon advertising campaign to raise awareness of climate change.
"When you transfer that image to the Olympic Dam uranium mine expansion, what you find is that you would need 13 million black balloons to represent greenhouse gas emission from one hour's operations.
"This project is significant on so many levels: it is significant because it is a uranium mine and there is all the implications for nuclear weapons proliferation and nuclear waste, which we still don't know how to dispose of after decades."
He said BHP Billiton was not proposing to power the current mine, nor the expanded site, with renewable energy.
"It is destined to be a greenhouse disaster," he said.
Young Greens, members of the public and Whyalla residents called out "kokatti", meaning "don't dig" in the local Aboriginal language, from the steps of parliament house.
Residents from Whyalla, in the state's mid north, travelled several hours to attend the protest in the hope of informing city dwellers of the potential consequences of the desalination proposal.
BHP Billiton is proposing to build a desalination plant to supply the mine with water.
"They have chosen the cheapest location to build the desal plant, which happens to be in the upper reaches of Spencer Gulf," Mr Parnell said.
"It's the worst possible place for a desalination plant - it's only a few hundred metres from the world's only site of breeding cuttlefish."
http://www.independentweekly.com.au/news/local/news/general/protesters-decry-bhp-expansion/1590241.aspx
7/08/2009 4:28:00 PM
A mass of black balloons covered the steps of the South Australian parliament like a shroud today in protest at BHP Billiton's proposed expansion of the Olympic Dam uranium mine.
Greens Legislative Council member Mark Parnell helped organise the rally in the final hours open for comment on the environmental impact statement (EIS) on the proposed expansion.
He said the black balloons were a poignant symbol of a proposal that should be sent back to the drawing board.
"The EIS reflects what the company wants to do, some of the things they want to do are clearly unsustainable, so they clearly do have to go back to the drawing board," he told AAP.
"Most people are familiar with the government's black balloon advertising campaign to raise awareness of climate change.
"When you transfer that image to the Olympic Dam uranium mine expansion, what you find is that you would need 13 million black balloons to represent greenhouse gas emission from one hour's operations.
"This project is significant on so many levels: it is significant because it is a uranium mine and there is all the implications for nuclear weapons proliferation and nuclear waste, which we still don't know how to dispose of after decades."
He said BHP Billiton was not proposing to power the current mine, nor the expanded site, with renewable energy.
"It is destined to be a greenhouse disaster," he said.
Young Greens, members of the public and Whyalla residents called out "kokatti", meaning "don't dig" in the local Aboriginal language, from the steps of parliament house.
Residents from Whyalla, in the state's mid north, travelled several hours to attend the protest in the hope of informing city dwellers of the potential consequences of the desalination proposal.
BHP Billiton is proposing to build a desalination plant to supply the mine with water.
"They have chosen the cheapest location to build the desal plant, which happens to be in the upper reaches of Spencer Gulf," Mr Parnell said.
"It's the worst possible place for a desalination plant - it's only a few hundred metres from the world's only site of breeding cuttlefish."
http://www.independentweekly.com.au/news/local/news/general/protesters-decry-bhp-expansion/1590241.aspx
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/08/07/2649513.htm
Friday, July 24, 2009
Uranium and a National Park
Comment: Listed below are two articles about modern uranium mining in Australian and the problem with mining! Again, uranium mining has never been safely anywhere in the world!
Posted on July 18, 2009
by archiearchive FCD
I am fortunate enough to live in an Australian National Park. The Rudall River National Park in the East Pilbara region of North Western Australia. While not a completely pristine area it retains its natural beauty despite the hordes of feral camels which run free.
There are two settlements within the park boundaries. I live in Punmu on the North Eastern corner while Parrngurr or Cotton Creek is on the Southern side a couple of salt lakes and 120Km away.
For years jokes have been made about the water at Parrngurr. The fact that there are “sparkles” in it. Not little pieces of mica but little flashes from disintegrating uranium atoms.
The community was settled before it was found that the hill behind it contained the highest grade deposit of uranium in the world. Luckily it is not a large deposit and so is not worth mining.
Unlike the deposit halfway along the road to the Telfer goldmine. Which is big enough to mine.
It is within the National Park. It is so remote that few people will worry about what happens there. It is upstream from a river which, when in flood, flows North and then West until it reaches the Indian Ocean around eight hundred Kilometres away. During the dry season there are many waterholes left in the river system.
The Oakover River flows into the De Gray. Both abound in swimming holes and fishing spots. In flood there is a huge amount of water flowing down the engorged river bed as you can see with this major road totally cut in half by the Oakover.
But I heard, with my own ears, a representative of the mining company say that there was no chance of any mining pollution getting into that river system.
Of course I believed him.
Just as I believed the Government which designated the area a National Park and beyond the reach of mining activity.
The first in an occasional series
http://archiearchive.wordpress.com/2009/07/18/uranium-and-a-national-park/
Uranium Mining and a National Park #2
Posted on July 24, 2009
by archiearchive FCD
“The requirement to manage the radioactive tailings and all other solid wastes to minimise both long-term environmental as well as radiological releases and impacts makes uranium mining fundamentally different to other types of mining.”
“The long-term management of uranium mill tailings present a major environmental challenge. Given the tailings contain most of the original radioactivity of the ore (i.e. the decay products), they must be isolated from the environment for periods of at least tens of thousands of years – a time scale which is beyond collective human experience and certainly challenges engineering approaches for waste containment.” Gavin M. Mudd.
So, what is our record as a nation of Uranium miners?
Ranger:
• despite being expected to operate under a “no-release” water management system, incidents involving misplaced low grade ores or failures in water control bunds have led on numerous occasions to contaminated runoff waters being leaked into adjacent creeks (especially Corridoor Creek, a tributary of Magela Creek).
• in early 2004 incorrect plumbing saw the process water circuit being connected to the potable drinking water circuit – leading to rapid and significant toxic process water being mixed with drinking water, and much of the Ranger workforce being potentially exposed to both acute chemical and radiological exposure.
Olympic Dam:
• after operating for nearly a decade, a major ongoing leak from the tailings dam was revealed, amounting to the loss of billions of litres of tailings water to groundwater.
• in March 1999, and again October 2001, major explosions and fires caused substantive damage to the mill and smelter complexes, including major releases of noxious fumes – though the extent of radiological releases remains highly contentious, the fact that the uranium solvent extraction circuit in the 2001 incident was on fire raises serious concerns about how these incidents are handled by current regulators.
Beverley:
• numerous spills and leaks from pipelines have occurred.
Nabarlek (now closed):
• due to the need to reduce the inventory of contaminated mine site waters, evaporation pond water was irrigated over an area adjacent to the mine/mill and led to significant tree deaths and lasting impacts on water quality in the adjacent creek which have taken nearly two decades to flush through.
Can uranium mines be satisfactorily rehabilitated?
The experience of rehabilitating uranium mines to date in Australia is questionable.
The first generation of uranium mines from the Cold War, namely Rum Jungle, Radium Hill, Mary Kathleen and the South Alligator group of mines, all still present environmental and radiological management problems and require constant vigilence and maintenance.
Examples include:
• Rum Jungle – despite extensive remediation/rehabilitation works in the early 1980’s, including excavating remnant tailings and disposal into former pits, re-contouring and engineering soil covers over low grade ore and waste rock dumps, acid mine drainage continues to pollute the Finniss River, and the complete site still urgently requires more remediation/rehabilitation works.
• Radium Hill – after being abandoned in early 1962, minimal earth works were undertaken in the early 1980’s, mainly just engineering soil covers over the tailings piles – erosion is a continual problem and tailings requires ongoing maintenance.
• Mary Kathleen – operating in both the Cold War phase of the late 1950’s to mid-1960’s as well as again in the commercial era of the late 1970’s, the mid-1980’s rehabilitation of the mine won an engineering excellence award for its perceived quality – despite internal concerns by the regulators about potential for long-term seepage from the tailings dam. Recent field studies in the late 1990’s have validated this concern and shown ongoing seepage of saline, metal and radionuclide rich waters from the tailings dam – well above the quantities predicted at the time of rehabilitation – impacting on the local creek.
Conclusion;
Overall, the experience to date with uranium mining does not give rise to any sufficient degree of confidence, as past sites – even after significant rehabilitation works – are still showing problems with erosion and seepage and ongoing impacts on water quality.
The proposed mining of Uranium in the Rudall River National Park must cause concern amongst the people who live, and gather food and water from within and near to the park.
From a briefing paper by Gavin M. Mudd for energy science.
http://archiearchive.wordpress.com/2009/07/24/uranium-mining-and-a-national-park-2/
Posted on July 18, 2009
by archiearchive FCD
I am fortunate enough to live in an Australian National Park. The Rudall River National Park in the East Pilbara region of North Western Australia. While not a completely pristine area it retains its natural beauty despite the hordes of feral camels which run free.
There are two settlements within the park boundaries. I live in Punmu on the North Eastern corner while Parrngurr or Cotton Creek is on the Southern side a couple of salt lakes and 120Km away.
For years jokes have been made about the water at Parrngurr. The fact that there are “sparkles” in it. Not little pieces of mica but little flashes from disintegrating uranium atoms.
The community was settled before it was found that the hill behind it contained the highest grade deposit of uranium in the world. Luckily it is not a large deposit and so is not worth mining.
Unlike the deposit halfway along the road to the Telfer goldmine. Which is big enough to mine.
It is within the National Park. It is so remote that few people will worry about what happens there. It is upstream from a river which, when in flood, flows North and then West until it reaches the Indian Ocean around eight hundred Kilometres away. During the dry season there are many waterholes left in the river system.
The Oakover River flows into the De Gray. Both abound in swimming holes and fishing spots. In flood there is a huge amount of water flowing down the engorged river bed as you can see with this major road totally cut in half by the Oakover.
But I heard, with my own ears, a representative of the mining company say that there was no chance of any mining pollution getting into that river system.
Of course I believed him.
Just as I believed the Government which designated the area a National Park and beyond the reach of mining activity.
The first in an occasional series
http://archiearchive.wordpress.com/2009/07/18/uranium-and-a-national-park/
Uranium Mining and a National Park #2
Posted on July 24, 2009
by archiearchive FCD
“The requirement to manage the radioactive tailings and all other solid wastes to minimise both long-term environmental as well as radiological releases and impacts makes uranium mining fundamentally different to other types of mining.”
“The long-term management of uranium mill tailings present a major environmental challenge. Given the tailings contain most of the original radioactivity of the ore (i.e. the decay products), they must be isolated from the environment for periods of at least tens of thousands of years – a time scale which is beyond collective human experience and certainly challenges engineering approaches for waste containment.” Gavin M. Mudd.
So, what is our record as a nation of Uranium miners?
Ranger:
• despite being expected to operate under a “no-release” water management system, incidents involving misplaced low grade ores or failures in water control bunds have led on numerous occasions to contaminated runoff waters being leaked into adjacent creeks (especially Corridoor Creek, a tributary of Magela Creek).
• in early 2004 incorrect plumbing saw the process water circuit being connected to the potable drinking water circuit – leading to rapid and significant toxic process water being mixed with drinking water, and much of the Ranger workforce being potentially exposed to both acute chemical and radiological exposure.
Olympic Dam:
• after operating for nearly a decade, a major ongoing leak from the tailings dam was revealed, amounting to the loss of billions of litres of tailings water to groundwater.
• in March 1999, and again October 2001, major explosions and fires caused substantive damage to the mill and smelter complexes, including major releases of noxious fumes – though the extent of radiological releases remains highly contentious, the fact that the uranium solvent extraction circuit in the 2001 incident was on fire raises serious concerns about how these incidents are handled by current regulators.
Beverley:
• numerous spills and leaks from pipelines have occurred.
Nabarlek (now closed):
• due to the need to reduce the inventory of contaminated mine site waters, evaporation pond water was irrigated over an area adjacent to the mine/mill and led to significant tree deaths and lasting impacts on water quality in the adjacent creek which have taken nearly two decades to flush through.
Can uranium mines be satisfactorily rehabilitated?
The experience of rehabilitating uranium mines to date in Australia is questionable.
The first generation of uranium mines from the Cold War, namely Rum Jungle, Radium Hill, Mary Kathleen and the South Alligator group of mines, all still present environmental and radiological management problems and require constant vigilence and maintenance.
Examples include:
• Rum Jungle – despite extensive remediation/rehabilitation works in the early 1980’s, including excavating remnant tailings and disposal into former pits, re-contouring and engineering soil covers over low grade ore and waste rock dumps, acid mine drainage continues to pollute the Finniss River, and the complete site still urgently requires more remediation/rehabilitation works.
• Radium Hill – after being abandoned in early 1962, minimal earth works were undertaken in the early 1980’s, mainly just engineering soil covers over the tailings piles – erosion is a continual problem and tailings requires ongoing maintenance.
• Mary Kathleen – operating in both the Cold War phase of the late 1950’s to mid-1960’s as well as again in the commercial era of the late 1970’s, the mid-1980’s rehabilitation of the mine won an engineering excellence award for its perceived quality – despite internal concerns by the regulators about potential for long-term seepage from the tailings dam. Recent field studies in the late 1990’s have validated this concern and shown ongoing seepage of saline, metal and radionuclide rich waters from the tailings dam – well above the quantities predicted at the time of rehabilitation – impacting on the local creek.
Conclusion;
Overall, the experience to date with uranium mining does not give rise to any sufficient degree of confidence, as past sites – even after significant rehabilitation works – are still showing problems with erosion and seepage and ongoing impacts on water quality.
The proposed mining of Uranium in the Rudall River National Park must cause concern amongst the people who live, and gather food and water from within and near to the park.
From a briefing paper by Gavin M. Mudd for energy science.
http://archiearchive.wordpress.com/2009/07/24/uranium-mining-and-a-national-park-2/
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Alice Springs says no uranium exploration at Angela Pamela
Comment: LEAVE IT IN THE GROUND!!! NO URANIUM MINING IN VIRGINIA!!!
Engage Media from Arid Lands Environment Centre in Alice Springsby Natalie Wasley — last modified 18 June 09
A community rally held three hours after the Northern Territory Government granted the exploration license for uranium exploration at Angela Pamela. The deposits are less than 25km from Alice Springs and situated within the water catchment boundary and water control district.
This film documents one snap action in Alice Springs, which is a snapshot of the vibrant community response to the Angela Pamela uranium proposal.
A Cameco-Paladin joint venture applied for a license to explore uranium at the Angela and Pamela deposits, 25kms south of Alice Springs, amidst a sharp increase in uranium exploration throughout Central Australia. This trend is strongly encouraged by the Northern Territory Government and Federal Resources Minister Martin Ferguson, who last month asserted new uranium mines are likely to open in the Northern Territory.
The Alice Springs Angela Pamela (ASAP) Collective formed in opposition to the exploration application and has organised public meetings, rallies, petitions, actions, film nights and other events to raise awareness about and directly challenge the progress of the proposal.
The Angela and Pamela deposits are located within the boundaries of the Alice Springs water catchment area and water control district. Uranium mining operations consume large volumes of water and there is a risk of contaminating surface and ground water sources.
Exploration and mining pose a significant risk to public health and local ecosystems. Workers, nearby communities and the environment will all be exposed to radioactive materials.
The areas around and including the Angela and Pamela sites have been identified in the Draft NT Parks master plan as holding national biodiversity and conservation significance. These areas should be reserved for low impact development such as tourism and not opened up for high impact projects like uranium mining.
This film documents one snap action in Alice Springs, which is a snapshot of the vibrant community response to the Angela Pamela uranium proposal: LOCATED ON SIDE OF BLOG!
http://nuclearnewsaustralia.wordpress.com/2009/06/21/alice-springs-says-no-uranium-exploration-at-angela-pamela/
Engage Media from Arid Lands Environment Centre in Alice Springsby Natalie Wasley — last modified 18 June 09
A community rally held three hours after the Northern Territory Government granted the exploration license for uranium exploration at Angela Pamela. The deposits are less than 25km from Alice Springs and situated within the water catchment boundary and water control district.
This film documents one snap action in Alice Springs, which is a snapshot of the vibrant community response to the Angela Pamela uranium proposal.
A Cameco-Paladin joint venture applied for a license to explore uranium at the Angela and Pamela deposits, 25kms south of Alice Springs, amidst a sharp increase in uranium exploration throughout Central Australia. This trend is strongly encouraged by the Northern Territory Government and Federal Resources Minister Martin Ferguson, who last month asserted new uranium mines are likely to open in the Northern Territory.
The Alice Springs Angela Pamela (ASAP) Collective formed in opposition to the exploration application and has organised public meetings, rallies, petitions, actions, film nights and other events to raise awareness about and directly challenge the progress of the proposal.
The Angela and Pamela deposits are located within the boundaries of the Alice Springs water catchment area and water control district. Uranium mining operations consume large volumes of water and there is a risk of contaminating surface and ground water sources.
Exploration and mining pose a significant risk to public health and local ecosystems. Workers, nearby communities and the environment will all be exposed to radioactive materials.
The areas around and including the Angela and Pamela sites have been identified in the Draft NT Parks master plan as holding national biodiversity and conservation significance. These areas should be reserved for low impact development such as tourism and not opened up for high impact projects like uranium mining.
This film documents one snap action in Alice Springs, which is a snapshot of the vibrant community response to the Angela Pamela uranium proposal: LOCATED ON SIDE OF BLOG!
http://nuclearnewsaustralia.wordpress.com/2009/06/21/alice-springs-says-no-uranium-exploration-at-angela-pamela/
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Australian nuclear waste reaches US
Comment: What, don't the US have enough of it's own worst --this should stop!!
Posted Fri May 22, 2009 2:29pm AEST
United States authorities have confirmed a shipment of nuclear waste which left Australia in March has arrived and been safely unloaded.
The consignment of highly enriched uranium came from the reactor facility at Lucas Heights in southern Sydney.
The Australian Nuclear Science And Technology Organisation has exported nine shipments of nuclear waste to Europe and America since the 1960's.
The US Department of Energy has taken more than 100 kilograms of the highly-enriched uranium from Australia since the late 1990s.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/05/22/2578340.htm
Posted Fri May 22, 2009 2:29pm AEST
United States authorities have confirmed a shipment of nuclear waste which left Australia in March has arrived and been safely unloaded.
The consignment of highly enriched uranium came from the reactor facility at Lucas Heights in southern Sydney.
The Australian Nuclear Science And Technology Organisation has exported nine shipments of nuclear waste to Europe and America since the 1960's.
The US Department of Energy has taken more than 100 kilograms of the highly-enriched uranium from Australia since the late 1990s.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/05/22/2578340.htm
Thursday, April 30, 2009
BHP to 'dump mine tailings on ground'
Comment: sounds like weak environmental laws in Australia!
Gavin Lower May 01, 2009
Article from: The Australian
BHP BILLITON plans to store radioactive mine tailings from its proposed Olympic Dam expansion on the surface, rather than return the material to the pit as the Northern Territory's Ranger uranium mine is required to do, a key environmental group says.
Australian Conservation Foundation nuclear-free campaigner David Noonan said yesterday the company's plan, coming on the eve of the public release of the 3750-page draft environmental impact statement for the expansion, could see the company create the world's largest radioactive tailings pile over the life of the mine.
"I understand the BHP EIS will set out the company plan to accumulate and store the radioactive mine tailings on the surface and to leave those tailings on the surface in perpetuity," he said.
"BHP have told me that what they intend to do with their tailings is not put it back into the pit."
A company spokesman said yesterday he could not comment on the contents of the EIS.
BHP Billiton proposes to turn its Olympic Dam copper, gold and uranium mine, 560km north of Adelaide, from an underground mine into an open-cut operation.
Mr Noonan said the BHP plan would be in contrast to existing regulations governing the Ranger mine and a Labor Party pledge before the last election to follow world best practice for uranium mining.
He said tailings, the waste product of mining operations, at Ranger are required to be returned to the pit at the end of the mine's life, expected to be 2021, and then steps taken to ensure the tailings did not have a detrimental impact on the environment for at least 10,000 years.
According to figures publicly available, Mr Noonan said the proposed expansion of Olympic Dam would produce 70 million tonnes of radioactive mine tailings each year, significantly more than the 10 million tonnes of radioactive tailings now produced each year.
"If they're simply left at the surface, that material would be prone to erosion and spread into the environment," he said.
BHP Billiton stores its tailings above ground at Olympic Dam.
Mr Noonan said the ACF expected the commonwealth to require BHP Billiton to return the radioactive tailings from the expanded Olympic Dam to the pit.
"We'd expect the commonwealth to set at least the same standard (as the Ranger mine) to isolate tailings from the environment for 10,000 years and expect BHP to say through the EIS how to isolate those tailings for 10,000 years to prevent detrimental environmental impacts," he said.
Mr Noonan said the mine tailings were a cocktail of radioactive elements and heavy metals, which have been processed to the consistency of powder.
"Why should the Big Australian be given a special dispensation to dispose of their radioactive tailings and leave it as a hazard for all future generations," he said.
A BHP Billiton spokesman said: "We have been operating safely for 20 years.
"Tailings contain extremely low levels of radiation and they are stored in accordance with very strict licensing conditions and fully regulated by the Environmental Protection Authority."
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25411908-5006790,00.html
Gavin Lower May 01, 2009
Article from: The Australian
BHP BILLITON plans to store radioactive mine tailings from its proposed Olympic Dam expansion on the surface, rather than return the material to the pit as the Northern Territory's Ranger uranium mine is required to do, a key environmental group says.
Australian Conservation Foundation nuclear-free campaigner David Noonan said yesterday the company's plan, coming on the eve of the public release of the 3750-page draft environmental impact statement for the expansion, could see the company create the world's largest radioactive tailings pile over the life of the mine.
"I understand the BHP EIS will set out the company plan to accumulate and store the radioactive mine tailings on the surface and to leave those tailings on the surface in perpetuity," he said.
"BHP have told me that what they intend to do with their tailings is not put it back into the pit."
A company spokesman said yesterday he could not comment on the contents of the EIS.
BHP Billiton proposes to turn its Olympic Dam copper, gold and uranium mine, 560km north of Adelaide, from an underground mine into an open-cut operation.
Mr Noonan said the BHP plan would be in contrast to existing regulations governing the Ranger mine and a Labor Party pledge before the last election to follow world best practice for uranium mining.
He said tailings, the waste product of mining operations, at Ranger are required to be returned to the pit at the end of the mine's life, expected to be 2021, and then steps taken to ensure the tailings did not have a detrimental impact on the environment for at least 10,000 years.
According to figures publicly available, Mr Noonan said the proposed expansion of Olympic Dam would produce 70 million tonnes of radioactive mine tailings each year, significantly more than the 10 million tonnes of radioactive tailings now produced each year.
"If they're simply left at the surface, that material would be prone to erosion and spread into the environment," he said.
BHP Billiton stores its tailings above ground at Olympic Dam.
Mr Noonan said the ACF expected the commonwealth to require BHP Billiton to return the radioactive tailings from the expanded Olympic Dam to the pit.
"We'd expect the commonwealth to set at least the same standard (as the Ranger mine) to isolate tailings from the environment for 10,000 years and expect BHP to say through the EIS how to isolate those tailings for 10,000 years to prevent detrimental environmental impacts," he said.
Mr Noonan said the mine tailings were a cocktail of radioactive elements and heavy metals, which have been processed to the consistency of powder.
"Why should the Big Australian be given a special dispensation to dispose of their radioactive tailings and leave it as a hazard for all future generations," he said.
A BHP Billiton spokesman said: "We have been operating safely for 20 years.
"Tailings contain extremely low levels of radiation and they are stored in accordance with very strict licensing conditions and fully regulated by the Environmental Protection Authority."
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25411908-5006790,00.html
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