ERA lease extension up in smoke

Warning sign: Uranium mining within the Kakadu National Park boundary may be at an end, with Traditional Owners rejecting any extension of the Ranger Mine lease beyond 2021. The Mirarr decision comes just two weeks after a 'controlled burn' at the mine escaped containment lines and swept through the park.

PLANS for continued uranium mining in Kakadu are up in smoke, with Traditional Owners rejecting any extension to the Energy Resources of Australia Ranger Mine lease beyond 2021.

In June this year, ERA flagged it would seek the extension to help make its proposed Ranger 3 Deeps underground expansion economically viable.

At the time, majority shareholder Rio Tinto said it did not support further mining at Ranger, instead backing the rehabilitation of the site, set amongst the World Heritage-listed Kakadu National Park.

On Thursday 15 October, Gundjeihmi Aboriginal Corporation advised ERA that the Mirarr Traditional Owners did not support the extension to the Ranger Authority, but were instead “in full agreement with the direction that Rio Tinto wants ERA to take”.

“The Mirarr cannot consider any possible extension to the authority to mine on the Ranger project area in the absence of support from ERA’s major shareholder, Rio Tinto,” the GAC statement read.

“The Mirarr now require certainty that ERA has access to the funds necessary to discharge its rehabilitation obligations.”

In a statement to the ASX the same day, ERA said it “respects the views of the Traditional Owners and will undertake a review of its business in light of their decision”.

ERA said it was assessing whether the decision would impair the company’s assets.

The existing Ranger Authority permits mining and processing until January 2021, and rehabilitation until January 2026, with the support of the Mirarr seen as a significant part of the licence to operate.

The recent developments come just a fortnight after a planned weed management burn escaped containment lines at the Ranger Mine site.

The fire burning between Ranger Mine and the Jabiru townsite on Thursday 1 October 2015.

Leading Firefighter at Jabiru Fire Station Mike Martin said fire officers responded to a call for assistance from ERA at 12.43pm Thursday 1 October.

ERA also contacted Parks Australia, agreeing to cover the cost of aerial water bombardment to help control the blaze, which burned close to the Ranger Mine village south of Jabiru Airport before spreading south through Kakadu National Park.

GAC Chief Executive Justin O’Brien said Mirarr traditional owners were angry this had been allowed to happen on their lands.

He said the late dry season fire burned with more heat and torched trees used for habitat by endangered species, as well as threatening sites of cultural significance.

A fire weather forecast issued at 4pm Wednesday 30 September rated the fire danger in Jabiru as “very high” with expected wind gusts up to 35km/h.

“A congenital idiot would have known not to do this on that day,” Mr O’Brien said.

He said common sense should have prevailed.

“ERA’s failure to contain this fire demonstrates that nature does not discriminate between a uranium mining lease and a world heritage listed national park,” he said.

“This is one continuous landscape and this situation has huge implications for the future rehabilitation of the mine site.”