Australia's aboriginal communities clamour against uranium mining

[Judi Lynn]

Australia's aboriginal communities clamour against uranium mining

'We don't want to bequeath a legacy for future generations of a toxic environment' say aboriginal clans in opposition to major uranium mining site opening in western Australia

Jessie Boylan for IPS, part of the Guardian Environment Network
guardian.co.uk, Monday 9 August 2010 10.00 BST

As a mining giant prepares to open a major uranium mining site in Western Australia next year, the clamour for the state to once more ban mining of the radioactive mineral has become louder.

In fact, the Wongatha Aboriginal clan that calls this region its home does not see any wisdom in having uranium mining in Australia at all. "We don't need uranium mining in this country," says Wongatha leader and pastor Geoffrey Stokes. "We have sun, we've got wind, we've got people. Why should we pollute our country for money?"

The World Nuclear Association says that Australia has the largest uranium reserves in world, with 23 percent of the global total. And while it has only three uranium mines so far, it has been exporting as much as 10,000 tonnes of uranium oxide a year.

In the last two years, says the association, the annual value of Australia's uranium exports reached more than one billion Australian dollars (about 892 million U.S. dollars). Its major clients include the United States, Japan, and South Korea, which use the uranium to generate nuclear power.

More:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/aug/09/austrailia-aboriginal-uranium-mining

[Altoid_Cyclist]

1. I guess that Peter Garrett really has become a politician instead of an environmental activist.

Perhaps he needs to start making music again instead of taking orders from his party's PTB.

[depakid]

3. Oddly enough, Aussies of all stripes are ardently anti-nuke

and burn filthy coal instead. Likely a cultural deal hearkening from the cold war and other historical artifices.

Yet still, they bear the externalized costs of mining and selling the uranium. Go figure.

[Altoid_Cyclist]

4. I've learned that it makes my head hurt if I think too much about

the motives of people when it comes to most forms of energy.

About the only thing that I am sure of is that at some point the human race will find a way to consume more energy than can be produced by any and all forms of energy sources.

At that point (if it comes to pass) things will get rather ugly I'm afraid.

[txlibdem]

2. If the Wongatha do not want a mine they should not be forced to have one

There are plenty of other places to mine, places where the indigenous peoples actually want them there:

Not all indigenous groups have rejected uranium mining, however. The Martu, for example, have made in known that they are open to it in their 130,000-square kilometre land here in Western Australia. The Western Desert Lands Aboriginal Corp, representing the Martu, has signed uranium exploration agreements in the area with at least two companies.

Indigenous groups are usually paid royalties, the amounts of which depend on location, type and scale of mine, for mining operations on their land. Yet for the Wongatha apparently, whatever BHP Billiton may offer may simply be inadequate for the risks they would be taking.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/aug/09/austrailia-aboriginal-uranium-mining

The indigenous peoples receive royalty payments from mining.