Traditional landowners from Kakadu have flown to the Gold Coast to brief a delegation from the European Parliament on their concerns about the operation of Rio Tinto's Ranger uranium mine.

Ranger has operated on land owned by the Mirarr clan at the World Heritage-listed Kakadu National Park for more than 30 years.

Gundjeihmi Aboriginal Corporation executive officer, Justin O'Brien, says the presentation on Friday came against a backdrop of suspended production at Ranger due to concerns over heavy rains and flooding.

Rio subsidiary Energy Resources of Australia (ERA) has new plans to expand the mine using controversial and unproven acid heap leach technology, Mr O'Brien said.

"International scrutiny comes at a critical time for the Mirarr and is very welcome," Mr O'Brien told AAP.

"The ongoing operations at Ranger, combined with renewed pressure for expansion, threaten the natural and cultural values for which Kakadu is listed as World Heritage.

"ERA's current difficulties highlight the company's inability to safely manage its existing operations and cast serious doubts over its capacity to manage any expansion."

Mr O'Brien said European nations that use nuclear-generated electricity needed to understand there was a social and environmental cost at the start of the nuclear fuel cycle.

"I think it's well understood in Europe there are problems with the processing middle points of the cycle and of course the handling of the waste, but it's little understood that there is a great social upheaval at the front end of that cycle."

Friday's briefing follows a series of meetings in Brussels in 2010 between Mirarr representatives and members of the European Parliament.

Speaking through an interpreter, Mirarr elder Annie Ngalmirama said the people's key concerns included mine waste and water management, contamination threats and the long-term social and cultural impacts of mining.

"We want them to understand what is involved in mining uranium on our land and the effects it has on Aboriginal people," she said.

"Because of our beliefs about the spiritual element of the land, damage to the land affects our lives in a spiritual sense.

"We have many worries and fears about our land and what's happening to it, and we tried to convey those concerns to the European delegation today, but we don't know what they made of all of this.

"We can't know what they think, but we did our best," she said.