Antinuclear

Australia’s uranium industry not really winning, despite Olympic Dam

While the Olympic Dam mine expansion is proceeding, and the tiny Honeymoon mine has begun producing tiny amounts of uranium, there has been much to celebrate for anti-uranium campaigners this year:
* Uranium mining has been banned in the Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary in SA.

* A strong campaign has put in jeopardy the proposed Angela Pamela uranium mine in the NT. At various stages both the NT Labor government and the Country Liberal Opposition have opposed the mine.

* Traditional Owners have put an end to plans to mine the Koongarra deposit in the NT. Jeffrey Lee (at right) resisted uranium lobby $millions

* At least two proposed uranium mines in WA have been put on hold (and hopefully abandoned).

* The WA Labor Opposition has strongly reaffirmed its no-uranium policy.

* All the eastern states/territories maintain their bans on uranium mining.

* ERA has abandoned plans to use heap-leach uranium mining at Ranger in the NT (though it still has other plans to expand the mine).

* The extraordinary early-1980s film ‘Dirt Cheap’ – about the Ranger mine in the NT – has been updated and is being launched in November/December.

* Figures from the Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics show a 19% fall in the value of Australian uranium exports from 2009-10 to 2010-11. Uranium accounts for a paltry 0.3% of Australia’s export revenue and 0.03% of jobs in Australia.

The uranium industry is in denial, continuing to claim that the debate has been settled in Australia (in its favour) and making comparisonswith Saudi oil exports which distort reality by several orders of magnitude.

November 29, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, business