Friday 31st March 2006
Territory Times

Justin Tutty has provided the Territory Times with the following statement on the proposed mining by Compass Resources at Batchelor.

The future of the Northern Territory town of Batchelor will be influenced by the direction taken for the management of the Rum Jungle region. Home to the Territory's first (and dirtiest) uranium mine, the region bears a legacy of radioactive contamination.

Although the old mine has never been adequately rehabilitated, the region now faces the threat of further pollution.

Radioactive waste has been a problem at Rum Jungle ever since the Federal government opened the uranium mine in 1953. Contaminated mine water collected in the Dry, only to wash into the river in the Wet. Tailings from the uranium mine were allowed to erode into the East Finniss for nearly thirty years.

When the mine was abandoned in 1971, no significant rehabilitation was carried out. It wasn't until as late as 1983 that the Commonwealth finally addressed some of the major contamination sources. Then in 1991, further work was undertaken to reduce pollution at Rum Jungle Creek South, which had become a popular croc-free lake. Despite these attempts at cleaning up, contamination sources have yet to be adequately contained.

Against this backdrop of environmental vandalism at the hands of the Federal Government and the mining industry, a newcomer has proposed a 'solution' to the ongoing problems of pollution.

Compass Resources is an inexperienced mining company, with big plans for Batchelor and Rum Jungle.

Compass are currently seeking approval to mine the Oxide deposit at Browns Cut, immediately adjacent to the old lease. This project would generate considerable further pollution, including radioactive waste in the form of tailings and contaminated water. Despite plans for contaminated water to overflow into the East Finniss River, Compass are confident that their waste won't be any worse than what's already there.

Compass admit that this is just the first stage of their plans for the region, which would see the initial four year Oxide project expand into a major dig for the sulphide deposits below. Beyond this, the company is enthusiastic to mine the significant uranium reserves that they have identified in the region.

In the face of concerns about the further production of new radioactive and heavy metal mining wastes, it has been suggested that the Compass project at Browns could offer the best chance for cleaning up the mess left by the old mine. This claim was made by ANSTO, the Federal nuclear science body, who wrote:
"Possible future extension of the Browns project into the old mine areas, with subsequent rehabilitation using more modern techniques, based on the extensive data available, could be a preferred outcome for the overall rehabilitation of the area."

Territorians probably best know ANSTO as the Federal body that wants to build a national nuclear waste dump somewhere in the NT. But it was ANSTO, in their former guise as the Atomic Energy Commission, who controlled the Rum Jungle Uranium Mine. Now they suggest that we take a gamble on Compass going all the way with their plans, in the hope that when (or if!) they clean up afterwards the place will be better than before they started. With this proposal, the Commonwealth government, which is ultimately responsible for resolving the problems at Rum Jungle, seeks to wash its hands of the mess it created.