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Uranium leak near Kakadu

By Amanda Hodge, Environment writer

6 March 2002 - A URANIUM leak at the Ranger Mine – which sent water contamination levels soaring to unprecedented levels – has prompted calls for a review of mine operator ERA.

It was one of four breaches of the company's regulations since January, which included the first sign that contaminated water at the Jabiluka site could be tainting pristine water systems in the World Heritage-listed Kakadu National Park.

Incorrect stockpiling of low-grade ore in a catchment area at Ranger is believed responsible for the contamination of Corridor Creek, which is within the lease and connects to the Magela River system used by Aborigines.

According to tests taken by ERA early last month, but not reported to stakeholders until later in February, uranium levels in the creek reached almost 2000 parts per billion – 4000 times the drinking water standard.

ERA chief executive Bob Cleary conceded the mistaken dumping had occurred and that the company had breached its reporting guidelines by delaying informing stakeholders in the hope of determining the causes and avoiding panic.

But he said the uranium leak was contained in waterbodies within the lease boundaries.

"I am disappointed this happened but we didn't do anything that jeopardised Kakadu National Park," Mr Cleary said yesterday.

But Gundjehmi Aboriginal Corporation executive officer Andy Ralph, a spokesman for the Mirrar traditional owners, said the breaches proved the company was still not accountable, despite implementing a rigorous new reporting system following a manganese leak at Ranger in 2000.

ERA is required to immediately notify all stakeholders – the Northern Territory Government, the Mirrar people, the Northern Land Council and the Office of the Supervising Scientist – of any breaches of uranium benchmarks.

"The main crux of the matter is ERA have four times broken regulations that were put in place to allay the fears of traditional owners about high levels of uranium entering Kakadu," Mr Ralph said.

"How can the traditional owners have any confidence in the regulatory authority or the mining company when leaks continue to occur and reporting is continually delayed?"

Mr Ralph said ERA had failed to immediately report elevated uranium levels downstream of the Corridor Creek in the Magela River and in a retention pond at Ranger that overflows into the Magela.

It also delayed reporting for several weeks marked increases in background levels of uranium, nitrate and magnesium detected in the Swift Creek, which flows through Kakadu.

Uranium levels detected in January in the Swift Creek downstream of the Jabiluka mine site. which is now in standby mode, rose up to six times above levels upstream of the mine.

Source: The Australian

Supervising scientist concerned at ERA's failure to report mine leak

7 March 2002 - The Commonwealth Office of the Supervising Scientist says the only concern arising from a uranium leak at the Ranger mine in the Northern Territory is the failure of the mining company to immediately recognise the problem
and report it.

The mine operator, Energy Resources of Australia (ERA), is obliged to notify all stakeholders in the event of a breach of uranium benchmarks.

Acting supervising scientist Alex Zapantis says the company made a mistake in adding a low grade ore to a stockpile it was not oupposed to, but the wetland filtration systems on the site returned the water to a safe stand ard before it entered the Kakadu National Park.

Mr Zapantis says the leak does not pose a health threat to Aboriginal communities living downstream of the Ranger and Jabiluka mines and was a non-event environmentally.

"The issue is that ERA failed to follow its own procedures on the Ranger mine site by placing material on a stockpile that wasn't supposed to receive material this wet season and also that they took some time in realising that they had made that error," Mr Zapantis said.

Source: ABC News

Environment group demand action to protect Kakadu

7 March 2002 -Environment groups today demanded immediate action to protect Kakadu National Park following confirmation of a uranium leak at a nearby mine.

But the Commonwealth Office of the Supervising Scientist said the only concern arising from the leak at the Ranger mine in the Northern Territory was the failure of the company to immediately recognise the problem and report it.

Mine operator Energy Resources of Australia (ERA) is obliged to notify all stakeholders in the event of a breach of uranium benchmarks.

Acting supervising scientist Alex Zapantis said the company made a mistake in adding a low grade ore to a stockpile.

But he said the wetland filtration systems on the site returned the water to a safe standard before it entered the Kakadu National Park.

"The issue is that ERA failed to follow its own procedures on the Ranger mine site by placing material on a stockpile that wasn't supposed to receive material this wet season," Mr Zapantis told ABC radio.

"And also that they took some time in realising that they had made that error."

Mr Zapantis said the leak was a non-event environmentally.

However, the Australian Conservation Foundation, Friends of the Earth and the Environment Centre of the Northern Territory (ECNT) called for an independent review of operations and impacts at the Ranger uranium mine to protect Kakadu.

"These leaks are the latest in an extensive series of spills, leaks and accidents at ERA's operations in Kakadu," ECNT spokesman Mark Wakeham said.

"The company has again shown that it is neither competent nor credible and ERA's failure to openly report on these leaks is simply unacceptable."

Clip from The Age

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