Antinuclear

Rio Tinto chief avoids discussion of Jabiluka uranium mine

ERA chief executive Rob Atkinson told The Australian that ERA did not want Jabiluka –.. to become part of Kakadu…If Rio approaches the Mirarr people about development and gets knocked back, it is unable to make another approach for four years…

Du Plessis sidesteps questions on Jabiluka uranium * Matt Chambers   The Australian * April 16, 2011 RIO Tinto chairman Jan du Plessis has sidestepped questions over the future of the Jabiluka uranium mine in the Northern Territory, with the traditional owners of the area wanting it merged into Kakadu National Park so it cannot be mined.

Jabiluka was mothballed midway through development in 1999 by Rio’s 68.4 per cent-owned subsidiary Energy Resources of Australia after opposition from the local Mirarr people.At Rio’s London annual meeting, a Mirarr representative asked Rio to start good faith negotiations with the Mirarr people and the federal government to make the mine, which sits within the boundaries of Kakadu, part of the national park.Despite Rio’s control of ERA, Mr du Plessis said the issue was a separate matter for ERA.”No doubt the board of that company will be looking at that issue and making its own decisions,” he said.Speaking after the ERA annual meeting on Wednesday, ERA chief executive Rob Atkinson told The Australian that ERA did not want Jabiluka — one of the world’s premier uranium resources — to become part of Kakadu.

Under a 2005 agreement, the mine can be developed only with the agreement of the Mirarr.

If Rio approaches the Mirarr people about development and gets knocked back, it is unable to make another approach for four years…

Du Plessis sidesteps questions on Jabiluka uranium | The Australian

April 16, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | aboriginal issues, Northern Territory