Lake disappointment
| Lake disappointment | ||
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| Satellite photo of Lake Disappointment | ||
| Geographical location | Gibson Desert , Western Australia | |
| Tributaries | Rudall River | |
| Drain | none | |
| Data | ||
| Coordinates | 23 ° 30 ′ S , 122 ° 50 ′ E | |
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| surface | 330 km² | |
| length | 160 km | |
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particularities |
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The Lake Disappointment (German: "Lake of Disappointment") or Kumpupirntily in the language of the indigenous people is a large salt lake in Australia . It is located in the west of the Gibson Desert, 650 kilometers south of Derby on the traditional land of the Martu Aborigines , who were granted a Native Title (land right) in this area in 2002. It can be reached on the Canning Stock Route or the Talawana Track .
description
The salt lake, which was created 2500 years ago when the ground subsided, is fed by the Rudall River, which only carries water at times , and has no runoff. It covers an area of 330 square kilometers and is 160 kilometers long. It is bounded by the Rudall River National Park to the north and the Hamersley Range to the west. The lake is surrounded by dunes and is the habitat of numerous water birds, some fish species also live in the lake.
The salt lake was discovered by Frank Hann in 1897 when he came to the eastern area of Pilbara . He followed the dry river valleys that led inland, hoping to find a freshwater lake. To his disappointment, however, he eventually came across a salt lake and named it Lake Disappointment in English after his personal experience.
The Lake Disappointment is an important cultural place of Martu, in their traditional imagination it is home to the Ngayurnangalku called cannibals , human-like creatures with large canines and long curved claws that live in their own world under the surface of the lake. The lake was therefore avoided by the natives in order not to fall into the power of the Ngayurnangalku .
Economic use
At the beginning of the 2000s, larger deposits of potash salts in Lake Disappointment became known and the mining company Reward Minerals applied for the exploration and mining licenses for the extraction of potassium sulfate (K 2 SO 4 ), which is a main component of fertilizers . After lengthy negotiations with the Martu, the permit for exploration was granted at the end of 2006, which took place in the spring of 2007 and identified a mining potential of 24.4 million tons of K 2 SO 4 worth 15 billion dollars (as of June 2012). However, negotiations with the Martu about the mining rights initially failed in May 2009 and only led to an agreement at the second attempt at the end of 2011. In December 2013, the responsible Minister for Indigenous Affairs gave the green light to start work. At the beginning of 2014, the development work began to commence mining activities.
Critics of the agreement pointed out numerous inconsistencies as well as economic conflicts of interest of the parties involved during the contract negotiations; In particular, they accused the Western Desert Corporation , which represents Martu, of not acting for Martu's advantage, but primarily in their own economic interests, and called for the competent federal supervisory authority to intervene.
Web links
- Salty Metamorphosis Satellite Image of the Week, Spiegel online , March 9, 2013
- Lake Disappointment , Google Image Search
- Lake Disappointment , satellite photos at Earth Snapshots
Individual evidence
- ↑ Kumpupirntily: Lake Disappointment , National Museum of Australia , accessed November 27, 2012
- ↑ Lake Disappointment Project - WA - Potash ( Memento from September 9, 2014 in the web archive archive.today ). Reward Minerals, September 10, 2014 (English).
- ^ Reward Minerals given green light to begin WA potash development. ProactiveInvestors.com.au, January 10, 2013 (English).
- ↑ Richard Baker and Nick McKenzie: The sorry tale of Lake Disappointment, the missing mining millions and Warren Mundine ( Memento from September 9, 2014 in the web archive archive.today ). In: The Sydney Morning Herald . July 10, 2014 (English).