Thursday, 24 May, 2007

by Lindsay Murdoch and Barry Fitzgerald
The Age

RIO TINTO'S hopes that its uranium subsidiary Energy Resources of Australia would soon secure Aboriginal approval for the development of the $50 billion Jabiluka deposit in the Northern Territory have been dashed, sending ERA shares down 5 per cent.

Jabiluka's traditional owners, the Mirarr people, yesterday confirmed Tuesday's report in BusinessDay that despite Rio telling the market on Monday that clearance could be close, their consent for Jabiluka's development was "not forthcoming".

ERA shares yesterday fell $1.26 to $23.80.

A statement from the Gundjeihmi Aboriginal Corporation on behalf of the Mirarr was scathing of Rio's comments.

It attacked Rio energy chief executive Preston Chiaro's suggestion that there was good reason to believe Mirarr leader Yvonne Margarula would soon say "yes" to a Jabiluka development.

"The community is extremely distressed at the interpretation Rio has placed on the relationship between the Mirarr community and ERA," Gundjeihmi said.

"Such comments are injurious to that relationship and immediately throw the prospect of future engagement into jeopardy."

Rio said it remained committed to its long-held position that there would be no development of Jabiluka without the consent of the traditional owners. It said comments at Monday's briefing were not meant to pressure the traditional owners.

But Gundjeihmi said that at a time when the uranium industry sought to gain the confidence of indigenous landowners, the comments by Rio "significantly reaffirm a traditional lack of trust held by Mirarr for the terms of any collaborative partnerships to be respected".

Gundjeihmi warned Rio against construing co-operation between the Mirarr and ERA over training and other programs at the ERA-run Ranger uranium mine, 20 kilometres from Jabiluka, as evidence of any traditional owners' support for the development of Jabiluka.

After years of animosity and distrust, the Mirarr said their recent co-operation with ERA had been a leap of faith that the company would close Ranger in accord with world's best practice.

The Mirarrs' ultimate goal was for their traditional lands to be returned to them for inclusion in the neighbouring Kakadu National Park, a World Heritage Area, Gundjeihmi said.

Ranger, which has had more than 120 leaks and spills since it opened in 1981, had been due to wind down operations over the next few years, but ERA has decided to extend its life to 2020.

Gundjeihmi said that under a long-term care and maintenance agreement between the Mirarr, ERA and the Northern Land Council, Jabiluka could not be developed without the written approval of the traditional owners.

The agreement was signed after the Mirarr led a concerted international campaign of opposition to earlier attempts to develop the site, Gundjeihmi said.

ERA spokesperson Amanda Buckley said yesterday that ERA remained committed to the agreement.