Yvonne Margarula, spokesperson of the Mirarr in front of the Ranger uranium mine. Picture: Dominic O'Brien

The Mirarr people who’s ancestors have lived for over 40,000 years in the North of Australia have gained a small victory over mining giant Energy Resouces of Australia (ERA). The small community whose native lands partly form Kakadu National Park have had to live with the so called „Ranger“ uranium mine in their close vicinity for over 30 years now. Now they were able to stop a new project that would have involved the intense use of chemicals on their soil.

Yvonne Margarula, spokesperson of the Mirarr in front of the Ranger uranium mine. Picture: Dominic O'Brien

The Mirarr people who’s ancestors have lived for over 40,000 years in the North of Australia have gained a small victory over mining giant Energy Resouces of Australia (ERA). The small community holding whose lands partly form Kakadu National Park have had to live with the open pit of the so called „Ranger“ uranium mine in their vicinity for over 30 years now. The mine is one of the biggest in the world, providing about 10% of the world’s uranium needs.

With an acid heap leach facility operator ERA thought about introducing a new way of gaining even more uranium out of the Mirarr’s native lands. This would have involved the use of chemical substances on the soils of a wet land area that can see heavy rainfalls in winter time. A higher danger of spreading radioactive material into the precious UN-world heritage listed area surrounding the mine would have been the effect. The Mirarr are happy, that the mining company ERA have dropped this plan now. Nevertheless, the open pit is still in operation and plans for another pit are still on the agenda.

Read the Mirarr’s press release from August 4 2011 here (Download pdf).

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