USGS Map of Northern Territory Uranium Mines

Jabiluka is a pair of

uranium Uranium is a chemical element with the symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium is weakly ...

deposits and mine development in the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Au ...

of Australia that was to have been built on land belonging to the Mirarr clan of

Aboriginal people Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

. The mine site is surrounded by, but not part of, the

World Heritage A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

–listed

Kakadu National Park Kakadu National Park is a protected area in the Northern Territory of Australia, southeast of Darwin. It is a World Heritage Site. Kakadu is also gazetted as a locality, covering the same area as the national park, with 313 people recorded l ...

History

Exploration on the site began in the late 1960s with Jabiluka 1 being discovered in 1971 and the much larger Jabiluka 2 discovered in 1973. The Jabiluka deposits were included in the group of uranium deposits that were the subject of the Fox Enquiry. As a result of this enquiry, the Jabiluka mining lease and two others were created along with Kakadu National Park. Feasibility works into the development of the mine were well progressed at the time of the 1983 Australian federal election, which saw the Australian Labor Party take government. Under this government, an export licence for the uranium was unlikely to have been granted and the project development was stopped. Energy Resources of Australia Ltd bought the deposit from Pancontinental and proceeded without background work. Upon the election of the Howard Liberal Government in 1996, the project was once again placed into development.

Controversy

In 1998 the issue came to a head when

Jacqui Katona Jacqui Katona is a western-educated Aboriginal Australian woman who led the campaign to stop the Jabiluka uranium mine in the Northern Territory. In 1998 the Mirrar Aboriginal people, together with environmental groups, used peaceful on-site ...

and

Yvonne Margarula Yvonne Margarula is an Aboriginal Australian environmentalist who won the 1998 Friends of the Earth International Environment Award and the 1998 Nuclear-Free Future Award. She also won the 1999 US Goldman Environmental Prize, with Jacqui Katona, ...

, of the Mirarr people, called on activists to come from around Australia and the world to blockade the construction of the mine by

Energy Resources of Australia Energy Resources of Australia Ltd () is a public company based in Australia. It is a subsidiary of the Rio Tinto Group which as of 2021 owns 86.3% of the company. The remainder is publicly held and traded on the Australian Securities Exchange. Th ...

(ERA). Over 500 people were arrested in the course of the eight-month blockade. ERA developed the surface infrastructure and the decline down to the ore-body to allow for further definition of the resource. Falling uranium prices prevented the project from proceeding. ERA's

parent company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...

, North Ltd, was bought by

Rio Tinto Group Rio Tinto Group is an Anglo-Australian multinational company that is the world's second-largest metals and mining corporation (behind BHP). The company was founded in 1873 when of a group of investors purchased a mine complex on the Rio Tint ...

, who announced that the mine will not go ahead – at least until their nearby

Ranger uranium mine The Ranger Uranium Mine was a uranium mine in the Northern Territory of Australia. The site is surrounded by, but separate from Kakadu National Park, 230 km east of Darwin. The orebody was discovered in late 1969, and the mine commenced ...

is mined out. The Mirarr people agitated for Rio Tinto to clean up the mine site and restore it in keeping with the surrounding National Park. On 12 August 2003 rehabilitation works commenced on the Jabiluka site, 50,000 tonnes of material from the mine were put back down the decline at Jabiluka, filling up 1.2 km of decline. In 2013, work to remove and remediate the interim water management pond commenced. According to ERA, between 2005 and 2015 over 16,000 stems of two dozen different species of native plants were planted at the Jabiluka site. Aerial photography shows significant recovery and regeneration.

Documentary films

The 1997 documentary film, ''Jabiluka'', was produced and directed by David Bradbury. Another film on the subject was made by

Cathy Henkel Cathy Henkel is a South African documentary filmmaker who lives and works in Australia. Her works have typically focused on subjects of environmental activism, and to a lesser extent, the performing arts. Career Her career in documentary fi ...

, called ''Walking Through a Minefield''. It was released in 1999. In 2006, documentary filmmaker

Pip Starr Pip, PIP, Pips, PIPS, and ''similar'', may refer to: Common meanings * Pip, colloquial name for the star(s) worn on military uniform as part of rank badge, as in the British Army officer rank insignia or with many Commonwealth police agencies * ...

released ''Fight for Country: the story of the Jabiluka Blockade''. Starr spent five years working on the film.

Future development

The ''Jabiluka Long-Term Care and Maintenance Agreement'' signed in February 2005 gives the traditional owners veto rights over future development of Jabiluka. However, in 2007, Rio Tinto suggested that the mine could reopen one day.

References

External links

*{{cite web, title=Welcome to the Mirarr site, accessdate=28 June 2009, publisher=Gundjeihmi Aboriginal Corporation, url=http://www.mirarr.net/ Geography of the Northern Territory Uranium mines in Australia Underground mines in Australia Mines in the Northern Territory Protests in Australia