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Quiggin, Robynne --- "Mirrar Continue Campaign to Protect Cultural Values" [2001] IndigLawB 13; (2001) 5(6) Indigenous Law Bulletin 24

Mirrar Continue Campaign to Protect Cultural Values

by Robynne Quiggin

Kakadu National Park is a World Heritage listed site situated in the north of Australia[1]. Traditional owners, the Mirrar people, seek the rehabilitation and return of their traditional land from mining company Rio Tinto, which acquired the Jabiluka Uranium mine from Energy Resources Australia last year.[2]

Rio Tinto announced at its London annual general meeting on 27 April 2001 that it would not operate the mine until at least 2008. The Mirrar say this proposal does not guarantee that the company will not sell its share to another mining company; nor does it provide any protection against the commencement of mining in the future. Rather, the announcement is consistent with earlier agreements between the Australian Government and Energy Resources of Australia to develop Jabiluka during the phase-out of the nearby Ranger uranium mine as part of a so-called 'sequential' development.[3]

Mirrar spokesperson Jacqui Katona stated that the decision to delay mining is unsatisfactory if it:

simply meant Jabiluka is put 'on the back-burner' ... The Mirrar call on Rio Tinto to permanently end the fiasco at Jabiluka by closing the project, rehabilitating the land at Jabiluka and returning it to its traditional owners.[4]

Responding to the company's decisions announced at its AGM Jacqui Katona stated:

Rio Tinto cannot mine Jabiluka without desecrating a sacred site. They say they are good corporate citizens with sensitivity to Aboriginal issues. Now is the time for them to stand true to these principles. It is simply not possible to develop Jabiluka without attacking what is for the Mirrar people the very fundamental basis of their Aboriginal culture.[5]

Rio Tinto Australia held its annual general meeting on 27 April, where it reiterated the plan for the mine. Commenting on the annual general meeting outcome, Jacqui Katona stated:

There is nothing new in Rio's statements about Jabiluka.
There has been no moratorium declared on the development of Jabiluka, despite suggestions otherwise. As far as Rio is concerned Jabiluka is all systems go and is today in standby mode.[6]

Claims by Rio Tinto that Energy Resources Australia has a 'solid' environmental record are undermined by systematic failure of water management at Ranger and Jabiluka.[7] Concerns have been raised by news that ERA has resorted to dumping contaminated water from an interim water management pond to the mineshaft in a bid to manage water at the site.[8] The mineshaft at Jabiluka is lined with 'shotcrete' (sprayed concrete) which is permeable and subject to increasingly greater volumes of water which dramatically increase the pressure on the lining. The Mirrar and environmental scientists believe that water pumped into the mine decline has been further contaminated, with increasing uranium levels due to interaction with the ore body.[9]

The Mirrar seek continued international scrutiny of Kakadu's cultural and natural World Heritage values. This includes thorough investigation of the health of the Mirrar, in the light of extremely elevated levels of manganese (the toxicology of which is little understood but known to be associated with mental dysfunction) which have entered Kakadu from the long-term leak of a tailings pipe at the Ranger mine in 2000.[10] The Mirrar call on the World Heritage Committee to list Kakadu as in danger until rehabilitation of the site and return of the area to the traditional owners is complete.

Robynne Quiggin is an Indigenous lawyer working at Terri Janke and Co, Entertainment, Cultural Heritage and Media Lawyers and Consultants.


[1] See Matthew Fagan, 'UNESCO Special Mission to Kakadu National Park' (1998/1999) 4(17) ILB 16.

[2] Rio Tinto acquired the mine as part of its takeover of North Ltd last year. Rio now owns 68.4% of Energy Resources of Australia. Rio Tinto purchased North primarily for its iron ore projects in Western Australia. Rio regards ERA as a non-core asset and may on-sell the mine. One rumoured prospective buyer of ERA, Cogema already owns 7.5% of the company and acquiring the Rio stake would give it 75%. Cogema also owns the Koongarra deposit in Kakadu. If Rio were to sell to Cogema the French utility would then effectively control all uranium deposits within Kakadu..' Gundjehmi Aboriginal Corporation, February Update 2001.

[3] Gundjehmi Aboriginal Corporation, Information for the Twenty-Fifth Session of the Bureau of World Heritage, 6

[4] ABC News, 'No Half- Measures at Jabiluka', Media Release, 26 March 2001

[5] Friends of the Earth, Campaigners target Rio Tinto AGM, Press Release, 11 April 2001

[6] Gundjehmi Aboriginal Corporation, Rio Tinto Flunks Its Own Test On Aboriginal Rights, Media Release 27, April 2001

[7] Gundjehmi Aboriginal Corporation, February Update and Gundjehmi Aboriginal Corporation Media Release 14 March 2001. For more information call Justin O'Brien 0407 06 00 99 or contact Gudjehmi Aboriginal Corporation gundjehmi@bigpond.com

[8] Ibid

[9] Gundjehmi Aboriginal Corporation, above n 4, 4

[10] Ibid 3


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