4 i. Uranium mining

This section looks at:

• Current mines
• Exploration
• Environmental performance
• Health and safety performance
• Social impacts
• Government inquiries

A. Current Mines

In 2005, the Ranger mine in the Northern Territory produced 5,000 tonnes of uranium.  The mine was due to shut down in 2008 and the processing operations in 2014. However, due to increases in the world uranium price, it's now economic for ERA to mine lower grade uranium ore. The mine will now shut in 2011 and the processing operations in 2020. By mid-2006, mining had generated 31.5 million tonnes of radioactive tailings waste (pers. comm., Dr.Gavin Mudd, Monash University).

In 2005, the Olympic Dam mine in South Australia produced 3,760 tonnes of uranium. BHP Billiton is planning a $5 billion expansion of Olympic Dam which could see production increase to 15,000 tonnes pa. by 2103, making it the biggest uranium mine in the world. Currently, the mine has generated over 90 million tonnes radioactive tailings waste (pers. comm., Dr.Gavin Mudd, Monash University).

In 2005, the Beverley mine in South Australia produced 825 tonnes of uranium. For the first time in Australia, the mine uses an in situ leaching process to extract the uranium ore. Acid is injected into an aquifer to extract the uranium chemically. This process risks contaminating surrounding aquifers.

B. Exploration

Uranium exploration has increased dramatically during 2005, with about 70 companies exploring for uranium in more than 280 projects: See: www.ga.gov.au/ausgeonews/...

In the Northern Territory close to 30 companies are now exploring for uranium: See: www.abc.net.au/stateline/...

C. Environmental Performance

A detailed 2003 Senate Inquiry into uranium mining found “a pattern of underperformance and non-compliance” at mine sites and concluded that urgent changes were necessary in order to protect people and the environment from “serious or irreversible damage.” “The Committee … views tailings management as among the most serious challenges facing uranium miners and, indeed, the entire nuclear energy industry in the future.”
Source: www.aph.gov.au/Senate/committee/...

In an acknowledgement of the toxic environmental legacy from abandoned mines, the Federal Government in its 2006 Budget allocated $7.3 million in funding over the next four years to rehabilitate abandoned uranium sites located in the South Alligator River valley in Kakadu National Park. Parliamentary Secretary Greg Hunt said: "This project will rehabilitate old mine sites and provide safe and secure storage to contain residues left from uranium mining and milling in the 1950s and 1960s.” Source: www.deh.gov.au/...

Across Australia, by mid-2006 there was a total of 135 million tonnes of radioactive tailings waste. There is no demonstrated long-term plan to deal with this waste. With the propsosed expansion of Olympic Dam in South Australia, this waste volume would increase to a total of 600 million tonnes by 2020 (pers. comm., Dr Gavin Mudd, Monash University).

D. Health and Safety Performance

In June 2005, the US National Academies of Science released a  report on the risks from ionising radiation. The report reconfirmed the previous knowledge that there is no safe level of exposure to radiation – that even very low doses can cause cancer. Risks from low dose radiation are equal or greater than previously thought. Source: www.nap.edu/...

In March 2004, where 150 workers at the Ranger mine were exposed to drinking water containing uranium levels 400 times greater than the Australian safety standard. Mining company ERA was fined $150,000 – a rare example of a uranium mining company being prosecuted for breaching operating conditions.
See: www.abc.net.au/7.30/...
See: www.deh.gov.au/ssd/...

In July 2006, around 100 workers at the Beverley mine in SA were exposed to uranium contaminated drinking water on site. See: www.abc.net.au/news/...

E. Social Impacts

Uranium mining – along with British atomic testing and proposed nuclear waste dumps – almost always occurs on land occupied by Aboriginal Australians. Aboriginal communities have been forced to fight – sometimes unsuccessfully – uranium mining proposals on their land. Some mining companies have employed divide and rule tactics, misinformation campaigns and unfair negotiation rules that have resulted in serious social impacts on Aboriginal communities. Where mines have been established, natural and cultural heritage has sometimes been destroyed forever. Download: www.foe.org.au/download/radioactiveracism.doc

F. Government Inquiries

In March 2005, the Federal Minister for Industry, Tourism and Resources, Ian Macfarlane asked the House Standing Committee on Industry and Resources to report on the non-fossil fuel energy industry in Australia. The first case study is uranium resources. The report was released on 4 December 2006. See: www.aph.gov.au/house/...

In August 2005, the Federal Minister for Industry, Tourism and Resources, Ian Macfarlane, established the Uranium Industry Framework to identify opportunities for, and impediments to, the development of the uranium mining industry in Australia. The Minister released the report on 13 November 2006. The Minister then went on to appoint an Implementation Group. This group has had its first meeting in January 2007. See: www.industry.gov.au/assets/documents/...