Australian government forbids uranium mining at Northern Territory site

By L'Osservatore Romano

The decision made by Australia’s Northern Territory (NT) Government to deny the renewal of a mining lease for the Jabiluka uranium deposit beneath Kakadu National Park has been described as “historic”.

It follows the federal government’s advice not to renew the lease when it expires on 11 August.

The mining lease had been granted in 1991, causing huge controversy and protests, including a blockade of the mine site by the traditional owners of the land, the Mirrar people, in 1998.

Led by Mirarr Senior Yvonne Margarula, it drew an impressive coalition of groups and activists from around Australia.

The government is now set to begin the process of incorporating the Jabiluka site to Kakadu National Park.

The Minister for Resources and Northern Australia, Madeleine King, highlighted that the decision ends decades of ambiguity. “I have met with all significant stakeholders in the Jabiluka Mineral Lease. This decision provides clarity and certainty to all parties,” she said.

Declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1981, Kakadu — an area that includes wetlands, rivers and sandstone, and is home to 2,000 plant species and wildlife — hosts one of the world’s largest uranium deposits.

It was discovered in the early 1970s and never mined. After a complex dispute between local Traditional Owners — the Mirrar people — and large mining companies, in 2017, remains of Indigenous settlements dating back tens of thousands of years were discovered in the area.

Archaeologists found that the site was home to axes and sharpening tools. At a conference in Sydney, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese emphasised that this is further proof of “the extraordinary and enduring connection Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people” have had with the land.

“The Mirrar people have loved and cared for their land for more than 60,000 years,” he said, noting that “this beautiful part of Australia is home to some of the oldest rock art in the world.”

Plans to protect Indigenous sites gained momentum after a mining company in 2020 destroyed a 46,000-year-old Aboriginal rock shelter to exploit iron ore deposits, which caused great distress and triggered waves of protests.

The decision on Jabiluka follows the ban on boats passing through Horizontal Falls in Western Australia and the ban on climbing the large sandstone monolith Uluru, also known as Ayers Rock.

These sites are not just rocks, they are living, breathing landscapes considered “sacred” by Australian Indigenous people.