Chief executive Rob Atkinson said exploratory drilling of the new 3 Deeps resource was going ahead.

Shares in the Rio Tinto-owned company slumped following a forecast of a first-half loss of as much as $50 million - down from a profit of more than $22 million last year. Processing of ore was suspended in January because of the heavy Wet and the shutdown is likely to continue to July to allow water to drain from storage ponds.

Ranger also has an image problem. The mine supplies uranium oxide to Tepco, the company that runs the crippled Fukushima reactor in Japan.

Some of the uranium has come back to the Territory in an unwelcome way - scientists have detected an increase in radiation in Darwin from the reactor.

Despite the problems, ERA still hopes to develop the nearby $20 billion Jabiluka uranium deposit. Mirarr traditional owners have repeated their opposition to a new mine. Senior traditional owner, Yvonne Margarula, has called for Jabiluka to be part of Kakadu.

Traditional owners agreed to the opening of Ranger in the 1970s.

But in a reference to the Fukushima crisis, Ms Margarula said her late father, Toby Gangale, had warned that the sacred power, Djang, would "kill all over the world" if disturbed at the mine site.

Ranger employs 500 workers, including more than 90 indigenous people. The mine also employs many contractors.