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Warning on Ranger mine leak

24 April 2002 - Energy Resources of Australia Ltd (ERA) has been warned it will be barred from allowing flow-off from its Ranger uranium ore stockpile into Kakadu National Park if it fails to source a new contamination leak.

Supervising scientist Arthur Johnson said he had ordered that water in Corridor Creek be retained on site until the source of elevated contaminates detected on April 11 was found.

"If it is not found, we've already advised the company that if we're not satisfied that the whole system is understood properly, then next wet season there will be no water allowed into the Corridor Creek system from the low-grade ore stockpile," Dr Johnson told ABC Radio today.

"It will all have to be retained on the mine site."

The Federal Government yesterday released a report by the Office of the Supervising Scientist of Dr Johnson's investigation into alleged environmental breaches at the Ranger mine and delayed reporting of environmental monitoring data at the nearby Jabiluka lease.

The report said ERA's internal management processes had failed but had not breached the Commonwealth's environmental requirements.

A spokesman for the Mirrar traditional owners said ERA's failure to pinpoint the source of the latest leak, reported to the Mirrar yesterday, was of great concern.

"Perhaps the most disturbing thing for traditional owners is that the source of this new contamination hasn't been identified yet," Gunjemhi Association communications officer Justin O'Brien said.

"We're talking about an endemic system of failure that over the past several months we're getting repeated stories of leaks, delayed reporting and now not being able to source where these leaks come from."

The monitoring point in Corridor Creek closest to the ore stockpile has detected a concentration of contaminants at 14,000 parts a billion.

The contamination was seven times higher than levels found in February which prompted Dr Johnson's report.

A wetlands filtration system reduced this contamination to within Australian drinking water standards by the time the water left the Ranger lease.

Clip from AAP

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