| 1 |
The
Mirrar People, Aboriginal traditional owners of the area,
are unequivocally opposed to the project |
| 2 |
Dangerous
sacred sites will be disturbed by any exploration or mining
in the Jabiluka area. |
| 3 |
The Mirrar
organisation, the Gundjehmi Aboriginal Corporation, is challenging
the validity of the Jabiluka Mineral Lease in the Federal Court. |
| 4 |
Approval
for the 1982 PanContinental/Northern Land Council agreement to mine
at Jabiluka was obtained only by coercing
the Mirrar traditional owners. The preferred 1997 ERA proposal and
ERA's fallback proposal are fundamentally different to the 1982
agreement and are likely to be legally challenged on that basis. |
| 5 |
In formal
advice to Environment Minister, Senator Hill, the Northern Land
Council has stated it holds "major concerns that the Environmental
Impact Statement is predicated on facts which do not exist" |
| 6 |
The cultural
values for which Kakadu National Park
is recognised as a World heritage Area are under threat. |
| 7 |
The social
and economic problems facing the aboriginal community in the
Kakadu region are complex and ongoing. The 1997 Kakadu Regional
Social Impact Study found there was no benefit to Aboriginal People
of the region from mining. There is no evidence to suggest the structural
changes necessary to create such benefits would occur if Jabiluka
were to go ahead. |
| 8 |
The Jabiluka
Proposal would have a significant and long-term impact on the
cultural and natural world heritage values of Kakadu
National Park. The Ranger/Jabiluka
project areas would be a uranium development province within Kakadu
for an additional quarter of a century. |
| 9 |
Mining
operations at Jabiluka would result
in an additional 20 million tonnes of radioactive tailings stored
at the Ranger Mine which the Mirrar believe
will lead to terrible sickness throughout their country. These tailings
retain almost all their radioactivity for hundreds of thousands
of years. |
| 10 |
Ranger
has been plagued with significant water management problems
since the mine began and regularly releases contaminated water into
Kakadu against the wishes of Aboriginal
people. Jabiluka will generate significantly
greater volumes of water. |
| 11 |
The Jabiluka
ore-body is a worker health and safety hazard due to its high
radioactivity. Proposals by ERA to address this are not international
best-practice and are insufficient to ensure worker health and safety. |
