Jabiluka
Jabiluka was a planned uranium - mining in the Australian Kakadu National Park , Northern Territory . After the discovery of large deposits of uranium in 1971, construction of the mine began in 1996 , against the resistance of the traditional landowners, Aborigines from the Mirarr tribe .
In 1998 the area was occupied by environmental activists for eight months , and up to 550 activists were arrested during the occupation. After international protests, a delegation from UNESCO visited the area and confirmed the feared environmental threat to the world natural heritage from uranium mining.
The mining of uranium ore creates fatal dangers because radioactive substances such as radon gas are released and the spoil still contains up to 85 percent of the original radioactivity. The wind blows radiating particles in all directions, contaminated water seeps into the ground and retention basins for radioactive sludge are not safe against dam breaks.
Increasing political resistance, several lawsuits and a collapsing uranium market caused the company Rio Tinto to stop development of the mine in September 2002. The neighboring Ranger uranium mine is not affected by this decision. The Mirrar demanded that the site be cleaned and restored. On August 12, 2003, Rio Tinto began work on the Jubiluka mine and 50,000 tons of material from the mine were moved to the original location.
See also
Web links
- Information on www.jabiluka.de (German)
- The Basis for Mirarr opposition to Uranium Mining (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ The reel story on Jabiluka , accessed July 9, 2009
- ↑ ERA website - Jabiluka Agreement ( Memento of the original from April 22, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed July 12, 2009
Coordinates: 12 ° 29 ′ 53 ″ S , 132 ° 54 ′ 53 ″ E