Antinuclear

VIDEO: the uranium mine most likely to fail: Tor Energy’s Wiluna

VIDEO   http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1754604/WA-needs-to-provide-more-info-on-uranium-mine WA ‘needs to provide more info on uranium mine’ The Australian Conservation Foundation has called on the Western Australian government to be more transparent regarding the country’s newest uranium venture near the remote town of Wiluna.

ACF National Nuclear Campaigner Dave Sweeney says there has been little information to date about how the uranium will be mined and transported.

“If the WA government really believes this is a good industry and it would stack up, they would have no problem at all putting it on the spotlight and putting it on the table and being open about it, rather than cutting secret deals in Perth and making little agreements in a language that most people can’t understand between bureaucrats,” Mr Sweeney said…..

The Federal Government recently approved the Wiluna mine, but has attached what it describes as “36 strict conditions” to ensure minimal impact on country and culture…..

But environmentalists say Toro Energy hasn’t got a proven track record handling a uranium operation. The ACF says uranium is high risk and low return. “We hear a lot about uranium as if it’s some sort of miracle mineral, but if you look at the sums, it’s 650 jobs and $600 million in export earnings, which in the scheme of things of Australia’s balanced trade is really a pittance,” said Mr Sweeney.

Greens Senator Scott Ludlam says the real money and job creation is in renewable energy. “We’ve looked at the company’s assumptions around jobs and investment,” he said. “It’s a very small mine, it’s financially very marginal…The company has said the operation will mostly be fly-in, fly-out. So there aren’t jobs there for local people, they’ll be coming in from Perth and elsewhere.”

April 11, 2013 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Audiovisual