ERA’s Ranger uranium mine should be closed down – Australian Conservation Foundation
Meanwhile, the Australian Conservation Foundation is calling for all Ranger operations to end. Foundation spokesman Dave Sweeney says there are severe environmental risks associated with the mine.
“Over the course of the history of ERA’s operations, we have seen over 150 publicly documented leaks, spills, accidents and breaches,” he said. “Some of them have been small but some of them have been severe.”
ERA flags future for Ranger uranium despite loss http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-04-11/ranger-uranium-era-agm/3943640 By Phoebe Stewart, April 11, 2012 Operations at the Ranger facility were closed for five months last year because of extremely wet weather. One of the world’s biggest uranium miners is forecasting a strong future despite reporting a big loss last year. Continue reading
Decline in Ranger uranium mine’s production, profit and morale – time to close it down
ERA tightens 2012 guidance, Colin Jacoby , 10 April 2012 …The uranium miner Energy Resources of Australia reported production of 612 tonnes of uranium oxide for the March quarter, down 41% from its December 2011 quarter production of 1030t.. The company was dogged by high rainfall at Ranger and access to high-grade ore was restricted due to the water level in the pit.
With ERA unable to access the high-grade ore located at the bottom of the pit, the ore milled during the quarter was sourced from stockpiled material. … the company said 2012 production remained highly dependent on the level of rainfall for the remainder of the year.
Kakadu uranium miner faces growing criticism. ACF, 11 April 12, Mining at the troubled Ranger uranium operation in Kakadu has been described as dirty, dangerous and desperate by the Environment Centre NT and the Australian Conservation Foundation. The groups have used Energy Resources of Australia annual meeting today in Darwin to re-affirm their concerns about uranium mining inside the World Heritage listed Kakadu National Park.
”ERA’s open cut mine has seen over 150 leaks, spills and breaches; radioactive exposure to workers; mismanagement of water and a mine shutdown that resulted in a $150 million dollar loss last year. The mine continues to pose ongoing environmental risk to Kakadu and the creation of more unwanted and poorly managed radioactive waste,” said Environment Centre NT campaigner Cat Beaton.
“Much of that waste is stored in an overloaded tailings dam that continues to leak over 100,000 litres of contaminated water a day.” Continued Ms Beaton.
In recent years ERA’s controversial Ranger mine has been plagued by declining production, morale and profit, with operations severely impacted by severe weather events. The company is attempting to reverse this decline by moving away from open cut mining in favour of underground mining.
“ERA’s fortunes are in systemic decline and will not be turned around by a tunnel to nowhere,” said ACF nuclear campaigner Dave Sweeney. “In the shadow of Fukushima – which we know was fuelled by Australian uranium – we need an open assessment of the costs and consequences of the uranium trade, not piecemeal approvals of short term projects that generate long term risks and problems”. “Uranium mining is unclean and unsafe, and this industry remains contaminating and contested”. Concluded Mr. Sweeney.
Aboriginal protest against Muckaty nuclear waste dump stops traffic in Tennant Creek
Muckaty protest brings town’s traffic to a halt 05 Apr, 2012 http://tennantcreek.yourguide.com.au/news/local/news/general/muckaty-protest-brings-towns-traffic-to-a-halt/2512703.aspx AN impromptu protest staged by Muckaty traditional owners on Monday brought highway traffic to a halt.
The women, many in traditional body paint, rallied outside the Northern Land Council office in Paterson Street to reiterate the stand they have taken since their land was first nominated as a site for the Federal Government’s national radioactive waste dump.
“We do not want a nuclear dump on our land,” Bunny Nabarula said.
“We have always said ‘no’ and we mean ‘no.’ The Government needs to get this message because we are not ever going to change our mind.”
Lawyers representing traditional owners who have challenged the nomination of Muckaty faced the Commonwealth Government and Northern Land Council in the Federal Court in Melbourne last week.
After a two-day hearing the matter was adjourned with a trial date to be set next month.
Tony Fitzgerald, former NT Anti Racial Discrimination Commissioner, condemned Norther Territory Intervention
The central recommendation made by the Anti Discrimination Commission was:
The Northern Territory Emergency Response in its present form should be scrapped and transformed from a quick fix, law and order plan into a range of long term initiatives aimed at overcoming remote Indigenous disadvantage and raising indigenous quality of life.
Tony Fitzgerald – an unlikely Territorian hero Crikey, April 1, 2012 – , by Bob Gosford – he quotes Patrick Dodson: “…….Tony was the NT Anti Racial Discrimination Commissioner from 2002 until his passing in 2009.
As Commissioner, Tony was passionate about the need to promote a fair and just society that was free from racial discrimination and inequality…. the report from that review, the Little Children are Sacred Report, became the catalyst for the Howard Government to initiate the Northern Territory National Emergency Response.
Tony was highly critical of the Commonwealth Government’s Emergency Response to Aboriginal communities. He was particularly appalled at the intervention’s suspension of the Racial Discrimination Act, which since its enactment in 1975 has been important in ensuring the protection of all Australians from racial discrimination… Continue reading
Protest in Darwin – the beginning, not the end, of the fight against Muckaty nuclear waste dump
Even if the Federal Court dismisses the action from the traditional owners, the fight to stop the waste dump going ahead will not end
Darwin protest against Muckaty waste dump http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/8438426/darwin-protest-against-muckaty-waste-dump 9 News Mar 20 2012 Federal government plans to build a nuclear waste dump in the Northern Territory amount to “radioactive racism” and ignore the wishes of indigenous people, a protest has been told. Continue reading
Strong opposition to the Labor-Liberal nuclear waste dump legislation
Nuclear dump protesters disrupt Parliament ABC News, http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-03-13/nuclear-dump-protesters-disrupt-parliament/3886614 March 13, 2012 Anti-nuclear protesters have tried to stop debate in Federal Parliament on legislation for Australia’s first national nuclear waste dump.
The Government’s bill to establish the dump has been passed in the Senate with Opposition support. The Greens and independent senator Nick Xenophon opposed the legislation.
A group in the public gallery disrupted proceedings, calling out for the dump to be stopped. They are concerned it will be built on Aboriginal land at Muckaty Station, near Tennant Creek, in the Northern Territory.
The Government has consistently stated the legislation did not specify a site for the dump. But it has offered to give the Northern Territory $10 million if it accepts the waste dump.
Greens spokesman on nuclear issues Scott Ludlam says he is confident the community will continue to fight any plan to use the Northern Territory site. “That is the unnecessary fight that this Government has picked in a bipartisan consensus with the Opposition who opposed it in the first place,” he said.
“This is the beginning of the campaign to stop Muckaty, not the end.” Mr Ludlam says the Greens will continue to fight the project. “The site is in an earthquake zone, it floods regularly, there are very long transport corridors, there are no jobs being applied and it’s opposed from people on the ground, on the front line from Tennant all the way up to the NT Government and people around the country,” he said.
Donna Jackson, from the Australian Nuclear Free Alliance, says she is shocked the legislation has been passed while there is still a legal challenge before the courts about the ownership of the Muckaty site. “Look I honestly didn’t think that they would have the gall to pass this legislation given that the court case is still happening,” she said. “I’m not sure if it set a precedent but I’m not aware of any other bills passing while there is still a court case in action.” Jimmy Cocking from the Arid Lands Environment Centre says it is a sad day for the Territory and the country. “If all of a sudden this starts happening and they construct a nuclear waste facility north of Tennant Creek, the transport of this radioactive waste across the country is going to be a subject of concern with local councils across the country,” he said.
Muckaty is not needed for radioactive waste, and the traditional owners will fight on
Medical professionals have called for federal politicians to stop using nuclear medicine as justification for the Muckaty proposal.
Both the NT and Commonwealth governments have systematically stripped back resources for small remote Indigenous communities, placing increased pressure on them to accept long-term and high impact projects like the waste dump.
there is a simple solution: leave the waste where it is produced at the Lucas Heights nuclear research centre .. As Dr Ron Cameron from ANSTO said: “ANSTO is capable of handling and storing wastes for long periods of time. There is no difficulty with that.” Similar views have been expressed by the Commonwealth nuclear regulator, ARPANSA, by the Australian Nuclear Association and even by Martin Ferguson’s own department.
Ferguson’s Dumping Ground Fights Back New Matilda , 13 Feb 12, The Gillard Government is pushing ahead with plans to host a nuclear waste dump at Muckaty in the NT, despite local opposition. Traditional Owners have vowed to fight on, writes Natalie Wasley…. The legislation names Muckaty, 120 kilometres north of Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory, as the only site to remain under active consideration for a national nuclear waste dump.
The proposal is highly contested by the NT Government and is also being challenged in the Federal Court by Traditional Owners. Despite this, the Bill is currently being debated in the Senate — and will likely pass.
Ferguson’s law is a crude cut and paste of the Howard government’s Commonwealth Radioactive Waste Management Act that it purports to replace. It limits the application of federal environmental protection legislation and it curtails appeal rights. The draft legislation overrides the Aboriginal Heritage Protection Act and it sidesteps the Aboriginal Land Rights Act. It allows for the imposition of a dump on Aboriginal land with no consultation with or consent from Traditional Owners. In fact, the Minister can now override any state or territory law that gets in the way of the dump plan. Continue reading
Senator Scullion’s Northern Territory deal – $10 million for a radioactive waste dump
Senator Nigel Scullion (Country Liberal Party) – South Australia refused, as a Territory we didn’t have the capacity to refuse…. Territorians generally feel that this should not have gone in the Northern Territory
Senator Scott Ludlum (Australian Greens) – I think it’s totally inappropriate that the Bill is before the Senate while the Government doesn’t yet know whose land they are dealing with…. I find it offensive that in the middle of that court action the Senate’s going to be debating a bill that explicitly names and targets that site.
the doctors and the medical professionals over the last couple of months who’ve come out and said please stop using medical technology as an excuse for producing this waste, because there are other ways of providing for radio pharmaceuticals that don’t result in these long-lived carcinogenic wastes.
Transcript ABC Radio National breakfast, 08-February-2012
FRAN KELLY:
Well more than twenty years after the search started for a nuclear waste dump Labor’s Radioactive Waste Management Bill is listed for debate in the Senate today. The Bill has already gone through the House of Reps, and with Coalition support it will also pass in the upper house, giving the green light to development of Australia’s low- and intermediate-level nuclear waste facility at Muckaty Station in the Northern Territory. This is despite bitter opposition from various Indigenous and environmental groups and from the Northern Territory Government itself. West Australian Greens Senator Scott Ludlam will try to delay a vote on the Bill, and the Country Liberal Party Senator for the Northern Territory, Nigel Scullion, wants an extra $10 million for the Territory. Both join me from Canberra this morning. Senators, good morning. Welcome to breakfast.
FRAN KELLY:
Senator Scullion, let’s begin with you. You once bitterly opposed a nuclear waste dump in the Northern Territory. In fact back in 2005 you said, “there’s not going to be a nuclear waste dump in the Northern Territory. The people of the Northern Territory don’t want anybody else’s nuclear waste. I represent them, so not on my watch”. Continue reading
Australian government bribes Northern Territory – a cancer ward for a nuclear waste dump
United Voice NT secretary Matthew Gardiner said: “There is still a Federal Court case hearing whether Muckaty Station can be used as the site, yet we have politicians bickering over what filthy lucre they can get.
“The waste will affect every Territorian, as it will be in our ports, on our trains and on our roads. “Every major town in the NT will see Australia’s lethal waste being transported past their offices, schools and homes.”
“Territorians pay taxes and deserve those facilities because we’re Australians, not because we sign up to a waste dump.”
Muckaty gets mucked up http://www.ntnews.com.au/article/2012/02/09/287821_ntnews.html NT News, NIGEL ADLAM | February 9th, 2012 THE Territory is to charge “rent” for storing radioactive waste. Payments will be put into a special fund and spent on the cancer ward at Royal Darwin Hospital.
Only the NT and federal governments will be allowed to send low-level waste to the Muckaty dump near Tennant Creek free of charge. Canberra will kick off the fund with a $10 million payment. But that money will be taken back out of rent money from states and territories using the dump.
The fund is expected to collect several millions of dollars a year. Territory Senator Nigel Scullion used the fund as the price for the Coalition allowing the National Radioactive Waste Management Bill to be passed by the Senate. Continue reading
Australia’s Labor and Liberals agree on bribing Northern Territory to agree to nuclear waste dump
Canberra dangles $10m nuclear waste dump carrot, ABC Radio 774, By Anna Henderson and Louise Willis February 08, 2012 The Federal Government has made an agreement with the Opposition that will pave the way for Australia’s first national radioactive waste dump.
The Radioactive Waste Management Bill is listed for debate in the Senate today.
Northern Territory Country Liberals Senator Nigel Scullion says he has secured Labor support for a minimum $10 million fund that would be paid to the jurisdiction that accepts the facility.
Resources Minister Martin Ferguson says the Government is prepared to support the Opposition plan.
The Greens want the legislation delayed.
They say details surrounding the Government’s preferred site of Muckaty Station in the Northern Territory have not been finalised……
Greens Senator Scott Ludlum says it is wrong to proceed while Indigenous groups wage a court battle over ownership of the land.
“I think it is totally inappropriate that the Bill is before the Senate while the Government doesn’t yet know whose land they are dealing with,” he said.
“There is a very serious challenge by the traditional owners of the Barkly region, a challenge to the Federal Government and to the Northern Land Council.
“They are basically saying they had no right to give up the land in the first place. “I find it offensive.” http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-02-08/20120208-2410m-muckaty-nuclear-waste-dump-carrot/3817866/?site=melbourne
Central Australia ideal for becoming a renewable energy exporter
http://www.abc.net.au/rural/news/content/201202/s3421358.htm Central Australia bursting 
with renewable gold, ABC Rural, By Caddie Brain, 02/02/2012 A new study shows central Australia could become a major renewable energy exporter to Asia and major Australian cities. The former chair of the Climate Impact Group at the CSIRO, Dr Barrie Pittock, says the region holds an abundance of solar and geothermal resources.
He says the cost to harness the energy would be similar to the National Broadband Network, but would create local employment. “Eventually if we were generating so much electricity, we could start exporting it by undersea cable to Indonesia. There would be a huge market up there. “But I think in the near future we’re just talking about getting it to the west Australian grid or the east Australian grid.”
Extreme weather rains on uranium mining company’s parade
Toxic year for ERA unlikely to get better, SMH, Peter Ker, February 2, 2012 THE struggling uranium miner Energy Resources Australia has underwhelmed the market with its production forecasts, raising fears its poor year last year could continue into this one.
The stock plunged almost 14 per cent yesterday after the company, majority owned by Rio Tinto, revealed a $153.6 million loss for the year to December 31. The result, despite being 427 per cent worse than the previous year, came as no surprise. The company’s Ranger mine was shut down for much of last year, and a massive depreciation of assets had already been
announced in August.
The bigger surprise for the market came when ERA forecast production of between 3000 and 3700 tonnes of uranium oxide this year, well below the 4100 tonnes forecast by analysts at Goldman Sachs.
Production figures at Ranger are highly dependent on the weather. Water management problems during the Northern Territory’s wet season often cause interruptions.
There was record rainfall in December, and ERA warned that its underwhelming production forecasts could be further affected if bad weather returned.
The ERA board has approved spending of $220 million on a brine concentrator, which will help mitigate its water problems. ERA’s future rests on hopes of finding uranium deposits beneath the Ranger open cut and turning it into an underground mine. Investors will have to wait until 2014 before knowing if the project, known as Ranger Deeps, will proceed.
ERA shares fell 21¢ to $1.33 yesterday….. Hopes that Rio Tinto will come to the rescue of another ASX-listed
uranium company, Extract Resources, appear dashed after Rio sold a strategic investment to state-owned Chinese interests. http://www.smh.com.au/business/toxic-year-for-era-unlikely-to-get-better-20120201-1qtgb.html#ixzz1lFkRZG00
Land grab and discrimination against Aboriginals remain in Australia’s draft Constitutional changes
A recommendation that jars, however, is Section 116A that would prohibit racial discrimination. It is not long ago that the federal government over-rode the Racial Discrimination Act to launch its outrageously discriminatory Northern Territory Intervention in 2007 during the Howard era. The Rudd and Gillard governments embraced the policy. It is not ancient history.
The discrimination was said to be ended by atrocious legislation that extended aspects of the Intervention to disadvantaged people of all backgrounds in the Northern Territory and beyond.
While the original Intervention legislation is approaching its sunset clause to be replaced by the cheerier sounding “Stronger Futures in the Northern Territory”, the land-grabbing intent continues. Residents of remote Aboriginal communities are being pressured to sign regular leases on their property. Sign on the dotted line before the August
deadline or lose it. Funding for housing in remote communities is frozen in favour of construction in faraway towns. Opposition leader Tony Abbott is rubbing his hands together on behalf of resource developers referring to the current situation in the NT as that of a “failed state”.
Words won’t replace need for struggle, The Guardian 25 Jan 2012, Symbols and words can be powerful and useful; they can unite and heal. But nobody is impressed by lip service or tokenism. In the lead-up to Invasion Day (or Survival Day as it also known) and which is officially celebrated as Australia Day, such judgements are being made about a government-sponsored report on proposed changes to the constitution.
Recognising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in the Constitution is the work of a panel headed by Aboriginal leader Professor Pat Dodson and senior lawyer Mark Leibler AC. It is said to be the result of discussions with “… more than 4,600 people, in more than 250 meetings in 84 locations across the country and received more than 3,500 submissions.”
The recommendations include “Recognising that the continent and its islands now known as Australia were first occupied by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples; Acknowledging the continuing relationship of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples with their traditional lands and waters; Respecting the continuing cultures, languages and heritage of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples; Acknowledging the need to secure the advancement of
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.”
Commentators have noted that solid majorities in polls taken on these issues have been reflected in the recommendations. The fact that attitudes to questions like recognition of the first peoples of Australia are improving is certainly to be welcomed. Continue reading
Extreme weather in Northern Territory bodes no good for uranium miner Energy Resources of Australia
Australia’s ERA warns rains to hit uranium output again SYDNEY, Jan 12 (Reuters) – Energy Resources of Australia warned on Thursday that recent flooding caused by monsoon rains in northern Australia will continue to restrict its production of uranium in 2012.
Production at the company’s Ranger mine — which in previous years supplied as much as 10 percent of the world’s uranium — was halted by heavy rains in early in 2011 and did not resume until mid-June.
A second deluge in December that dumped record rains across parts of the tropical Northern Territory meant ERA would be unable to readily mine richer ores at the bottom of the lode, it said.
“As a result, access to the high grade ore located at the bottom of the pit will be delayed and is highly dependent on rainfall
experienced for the remainder of the 2011/2012 wet season,” said ERA, 68 percent owned by Rio Tinto but separately listed on the Australian bourse….. Analyst are expecting the company to show a loss on earnings before interest and tax of around A$61 million against a profit of A$68.4 million in 2010.
The stock has plummeted more than 80 percent in the last 12 months, in part due to negative sentiment toward uranium companies following the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan last March…..
http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFL3E8CB8ZU20120111?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0
Northern Territory radioactive river spill causes wave of concern
Environment Centre NT calls for EPA investigation radioactive spill, 2 Jan 2012 The train derailment at Edith River spilling 1200 tonnes of copper concentrate into the flooded environment, which may have contained 0.01% of uranium, has urged the Environment Centre NT to call on the EPA for a full investigation.
“We have now learnt that the NT Government approved the transport of these toxic materials in substandard casing, covered only by a tarp. We want to know which department and which minister had signed off on this outrageous exemption” Said Cat Beaton, Nuclear Free NT Campaigner at the Environment Centre NT.
“This incident is a serious warning, that must trigger serious action. We will be writing to the EPA requesting a full investigation”.
“NT Government should not approve any increased transport of radioactive materials by rail until such an independent investigation has been undertaken,” continued Ms Beaton.
The Northern Territory is at the dawn of increased transport of toxic and radioactive materials. The expansion of BHP’s Olympic Dam mine in SA is set to see 1.6 million tonnes a year of uranium infused copper concentrate transported daily by 1.8km long trainloads for the next 80-plus years.
The Territory could also face the reality of radioactive waste transport for a proposed nuclear waste dump at Muckaty, 120ks north of Tennant Creek.
“Right now the Territory Government cannot be trusted to ensure the safe transport of dangerous goods and we all need to think about the risks to our rivers, environment and the outdoors lifestyle that Territorians enjoy,” concluded Ms Beaton.
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