Traditional Kakadu owners fearful after leak at Ranger Source: AAP | Published: Wednesday May 3, 4:04 PM Traditional owners of Kakadu National Park fear contaminated water from the Ranger uranium mine has spilled into their hunting grounds, following a leakage within the mine. Energy Resources of Australia Ltd (ERA) last night told the stock market and the media that contaminated water had leaked into a filter area within its Ranger uranium mine, which is surrounded by Kakadu. The company did not reveal the leak to authorities and traditional owners for one month. ERA did not know when the leak started because wet season flooding from late December prevented testing of the area. However the contaminated water, containing high levels of the potentially carcinogenic mineral manganese, could be released into the environment because manganese levels were safe, ERA said. Jacqui Katona, a spokeswoman for the Mirrar people of the area, said there was no guarantee that the contaminated water had not made its way into the wetlands system. 'Obviously we harvest our food from the land,' Ms Katona said. 'There are urgent concerns that we hold over the level of contamination that's taken place.' She said heavy metals were being picked up by the wildlife in the area and then consumed by Aboriginal people on a daily basis. 'Now this is precisely the type of issue we have raised time and time again and it's been dismissed by the government regulators,' Ms Katona said. The federal government's Office of the Supervising Scientist, which tests the environment surrounding Kakadu for contamination, said water outside the mine remained safe throughout the period when the leak could have been happening. Officers from the NT Department of Mines and Energy were today inspecting the area. The Northern Land Council, which collects royalties from mines on behalf of traditional owners in the Top End, called for better monitoring and notification procedures. Members of the Mirrar and NLC representatives had been invited to participate in a review of the procedures, said a spokesman for the company, Chris Oldfield. 'We also want to improve the systems and we are determined we will do that,' Mr Oldfield said. Conservation group Greenpeace said the leak was a warning to all Australians concerned with the safety of uranium mining. 'How can we believe this industry is safe when we know we cannot trust the companies to be open and accountable?' said Greenpeace nuclear campaigner Stephen Campbell. A spokesman for Environment Minister Robert Hill said the minister stood by the findings of the Supervising Scientist. Opposition Environment spokesman Nick Bolkus said the federal government's regulatory regime for Ranger had failed because the incident had gone unreported for one month. The company should be censured, he said. Senator Bolkus said ERA's proposed Jabiluka mine, nearby Ranger and also surrounded by Kakadu, was the most controversial uranium development in Australia. 'To allow this incident to go unchecked sends the wrong message to the mining industry,' Senator Bolkus said. -- _________________________________ Truth is a pathless land. --- Krishnamurti ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------ RecOzNet2 has a page @ http://www.green.net.au/recoznet2 and is archived at http://www.mail-archive.com/ To unsubscribe from this list, mail [EMAIL PROTECTED], and in the body of the message, include the words: unsubscribe announce or click here mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20announce This posting is provided to the individual members of this group without permission from the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of the Federal copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner, except for "fair use." RecOzNet2 is archived for members @ http://www.mail-archive.com/recoznet2%40paradigm4.com.au/
