Campaign to remove BHP’s special legal exemptions for Olympic Dam uranium mine
Friends of the Earth is currently working on a campaign to have the SA Roxby Downs Indenture Act repealed. This legislation allows the mine to operate with wide-ranging exemptions from the Aboriginal Heritage Protection Act, the Environment Protection Act, the Natural Resources Act and the Freedom of Information Act………….
Radioactive Exposure tour at Olympic Dam, The Monitor Newspaper : by Celeste Lustosa, 27 May 2010, The Friends of the Earth conducted their annual Radioactive Exposure Tour from May 14 to 23. As part of this event, they were in the Roxby Downs / Olympic Dam area from Sunday, May 16.
Since the 1980s, these tours have exposed thousands of people first-hand to the realities of ‘radioactive racism’ and to the environmental impacts of the nuclear industry……….they visited BHP Billiton’s Olympic Dam uranium mine at Roxby Downs, the largest uranium deposit in the world.
Friends of the Earth is currently working on a campaign to have the SA Roxby Downs Indenture Act repealed. This legislation allows the mine to operate with wide-ranging exemptions from the Aboriginal Heritage Protection Act, the Environment Protection Act, the Natural Resources Act and the Freedom of Information Act………….
Madeline Hudson, anti-nuclear campaign co-ordinator at Friends of the Earth said: “Sadly there seems to be no willingness on BHP’s part to seriously consider the option of expanding copper, gold and silver mining at Olympic Dam and to cease uranium mining. This is an option which would allow for ongoing, profitable mining while addressing at least some of the major problems,”
She also added that “if BHP Billiton gets its way, its uranium exports will produce 28.5 tonnes of plutonium each year in power reactors around the world – enough for 2,850 nuclear weapons each year. Safeguarding this plutonium is a near-impossible task.
“The International Atomic Energy Agency has admitted that their rights of inspection are ‘fairly limited’ and that it operates on a ‘shoe-string budget’. BHP’s claim that safeguards will ‘ensure’ peaceful use of its uranium exports is dishonest and irresponsible.”
According to Mrs Hudson there are huge concerns over BHP Billiton’s capacity to safely manage the ever-growing radioactive tailings stockpile.
“There are constant problems with tailings such as ongoing seepage and large numbers of bird deaths. Yet BHP wants to increase tailings production seven-fold to 68 million tonnes annually.
“Last year, when a whistleblower released photos of leaks in the tailings dam at Olympic Dam, the company’s response was to threaten ‘disciplinary action’ against any workers taking photos of the mine site.
“If the mine expansion proceeds, it is imperative that the legal privileges of the Roxby Downs Indenture Act are repealed including the exemptions from the SA Environmental Protection Act 1993, SA Aboriginal Heritage Act 1988, Freedom of Information Act 1991 and Natural Resources Act 2004,” Mrs Hudson concluded.
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of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 
This is all true.
Ok now look at the miner a working underground Beathing in all the Diesel fumes instead of using wind energy to power up electric trucks. Wind turbines and solar energy shoud be an Australian Standard to power all mines and equipment to minimise a carbon foot print there to.
Plus this will cut down noise pollution.
The new suppertax should be spent on plantation forrests to leave our natural native forrests protected and help reverse some carbon foot print.
The Murray River is another National issue that needs addressing that tax could help.
Did you know if they close a mine and leave a mine manager there to open the gate every day, That he ust gets payed to turn up and then their immune to rehabilitation of the mine. Yep no clean up required just call it a musseum.
Its true the issues in the main page are the more serious but i think these are two and it highligts the true nature of their concern towards their employees and Australias future.
They claim there is good product in the Tails, They have not come up with a feasable extraction method, Well if they continue to focus on expansions to process raw matirial they will never focus on extracting from tails and minamising the waste.
Water use is increadable, Then theirs like you mention the after math. The Radioactive waste.
The worker that took the picks Should be awarded by the goverment and something in place to prevent companys using standover tacktics and blocking union organisers from entering by using an excuse they are not inducted.
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