ALAN KOHLER, PRESENTER: Right at the other end of the country from Leighton's waterlogged desalination plant at Wonthaggi lies ERA's flooded Ranger Mine, one of the world's most productive uranium operations - or it was until the wet season shut it down in January. 

Things haven't improved much weather-wise in the Top End and ERA this week extended the closure through until late July. 

I spoke to ERA's chief Rob Atkinson after he'd just given his investors the bad news at the company's AGM in Darwin. 

Well Rob Atkinson, it's not as if rain in the Northern Territory during the wet season is a surprise. I mean, isn't it reasonable for shareholders and traditional owners to be angry that you let the tailings dam get full so you can't operate the mine?

ROB ATKINSON, CEO, ERA: I think it is a fair question, Alan, that ERA has been in business at Ranger for over 30 years so water is something that we've had to manage for a long, long time. And I think that we have managed water very, very well, but three of the largest wet seasons in our history have occurred within the last five years, and that certainly really boosted up our water inventory levels. 

Now ERA is certainly doing everything it possibly can to not only to store that water very, very safely, but also to minimise the production of it, and that is something which I can say I'm very proud of my team and the efforts that they have done very successfully and very safely. 

And I think it only goes to show that by taking the decision to shut down production to make sure that we don't go over the maximum operating level as a precaution - and it did turn out to be a very, very sensible step - just shows how seriously we do take water. 

ALAN KOHLER: Well, as you say, you've been operating at Jabiru for 30 years. Now, as I understand it, this year's wet season has produced 2,389mm of rain so far. Back in 2006/7 the rainfall was 2510mm, so more than this year. And there have been other peaks too during the past 30 years. 

I mean, how could it get to the point where you're now struggling to operate the mine? You can't even operate it because of the rain.

ROB ATKINSON: Well I think, again, I'll just go back to the point I made before is that in the last five years, three of the heaviest wet seasons on record have actually occurred in a fairly short period of time. This year has been another heavy wet season, and certainly it's above what our predictions were, and it was above many people's predictions. And it's something we simply must learn from and must deal with. And I think this year we have shown that we deal with it very, very seriously, but also very well. 

ALAN KOHLER: One of your problems is that your pit, the open pit gets exhausted by the end of 2012, and then to continue operating at Ranger you need to do heap leaching or dig deeper through an underground mine near the open pit. And to do either of those things, you need the traditional owners onside, but they're now really angry with you. I mean, is that going to be a problem for you as well?

ROB ATKINSON: The relationship with the Mirrars is one which is very, very important to myself and to ERA. You know, we're at the point with the heap leach facility where we are finalising our environmental impact statement, and it's something which we have had a lot of consultation with the Mirrar over the last couple of years. 

In fact, we have listened to many of their concerns and many of their issues, and we've built that into the way in which we plan to make it. But at the end of the day, if - I wouldn't be proceeding with a project I didn't believe was not only environmentally sound, but also financially sound, and also very, very good for not only the company, but also the surrounding area of Jabiru. 

ALAN KOHLER: Well, in fact how much of a risk do you think there is that you simply won't be able to continue operating after the end of 2012?

ROB ATKINSON: I don't think that'll be the case at all. We do believe we've got very good projects. But at this point in time it is important for the company to take stock, to review in particular its costs, to review its priorities, and one of the large priorities that we simply must deal with is around water management and getting water treatment up and running.

ALAN KOHLER: Well, your share price is down about 70 per cent since the beginning of last year, while the energy index on the ASX is up 5 or 6 per cent. Why has that happened in your view?

ROB ATKINSON: I think it's happened for the very simple reason is that we've long communicated that our open pit is due to be exhausted in 2012, and we've said that the only way in which that production can even stay in similar levels is with the introduction of a new project. 

Those new projects have been delayed somewhat, and as a result we cannot guarantee to our shareholder, or to investors, that our production levels are not going to fall quite dramatically after 2012. I think predominantly that's the reason, and then when you look at this year, the major reason is, any company that announces a production suspension of three months, never mind six months, there is going to be an impact. 

ALAN KOHLER: Well, one of your options for extending the mine life is deeper drilling, a decline to an underground mine near the open pit. Are you sure that there's a good deposit down there?

ROB ATKINSON: I'm very confident there's a good deposit down there. We've done extensive drilling over the last three years and it's a 34,000 tonne resource. And when you put that in perspective, it's one of the largest finds anywhere in the world of uranium, and it's right on our doorstep. So I think it's a very exciting challenge, and the exploration decline which we've worked through, we are very close to a decision on that as to whether or not we're proceeding with that.

ALAN KOHLER: The other thing that's happened lately of course is the nuclear accident in Japan, which is raising questions about the whole future of nuclear energy. What's your opinion about the wash-up of that?

ROB ATKINSON: I think first and foremost it is an absolute tragedy which has happened in Japan, that to be hit not only with such a devastating earthquake and then the resulting tsunami - it is unimaginable what the Japanese people are going through at the moment. 

Obviously, that has triggered many events - one being the nuclear incident - and that is deeply concerning, but I also think it's important to realise that this is an incident which has been triggered by enormous forces of nature, and doesn't replicate conditions in many other places in the world, so to use this incident as a reason why nuclear power isn't valid is difficult.

But I absolutely understand that these types of incidents cause enormous concern and rightly so, and I think once the situation is fully controlled, the facts emerge, further controls are suggested, I'm sure the industry will learn from it. 

ALAN KOHLER: Thanks very much for joining us, Rob Atkinson. 

ROB ATKINSON: No problems. Thank you.