The Cameco/Paladin joint venture may be the NT government’s preferred applicant for the Angela and Pamela uranium deposits, but any effort put in to this project is waste of time and money, the Environment Centre of the NT (ECNT) said today. 

“These deposits are located within the Alice Springs water catchment area and should never have been released for exploration, let alone opened up for mining,” ECNT Uranium Campaigner Emma King said. 

“How could any responsible Government approve a uranium mine in the Alice Springs Water Catchment? 

“Alice Springs is already struggling to ensure the town has adequate water – apart from risks of contamination from a mine, the amount of water used in uranium processing could threaten water supplies even further. 

“Mining activity at the location of this deposit poses a direct threat to both ground and surface water which feeds the Roe Creek borefield. The government’s own Draft Alice Springs Water Resource Strategy states that 'the surface catchments and aquifer systems of the region are interconnected'.

The area around and including the two sites has also been identified as an area of national biodiversity and conservation significance in the NT Draft Parks Masterplan. 

“Areas identified as being of national conservation significance should be reserved for low impact development such as tourism and not opened up for high impact projects like mining,” Ms King said. 

“Uranium mining in particular has a range of environmental impacts which can have long term and severe implications for the surrounding environment.