Ranger Uranium Mine

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Ranger mine buildings

The Ranger uranium mine is located in Kakadu National Park, in the Northern Territory of Australia. The orebody was discovered in 1969, and the mine commenced operation in 1980, reaching full production of uranium oxide in 1981.

After years of saying 'No', Ranger was forced upon unwilling local Aboriginal people, who were under immense pressure from a conservative government that insisted on tying consent for the uranium mine to the establishment of the National Park, and the implementation of the NT Land Rights program. Decades later, the same community successfully fought off another mine, Jabiluka, in an epic international battle between the multi-national uranium miner, Rio-Tinto, and one determined senior Traditional Owner, Yvonne Margarula, who led her people to victory, in the form of a 'long term care and maintenance agreement' which legally locks the uranium ore away (until such time as the Traditional Owners request mining, ie. never).

The mine has had an appalling environmental and worker safety record, culminating in May 2005 in an historic conviction for breach of their environmental guidelines - the first such prosecution in the Northern Territory. The court heard detailed evidence surrounding ERA’s scandalous poisoning of their own workers, ten of whom drank more than 2 litres of toxic, radioactive process water after the contaminated water was used to backflush the drinking water supply, which was even sent off site to the nearby airport. In addition to this well publicised incident, details also emerged regarding a vehicle which was allowed to leave the mine site for repairs, despite being contaminated with partially processed ore. When the work-for-welfare mechanic in Jabiru opened the engine bay, he was unaware of the dangerous nature of the mud and dirt which fell on the floor. The court heard that in the following weeks, after he had swept the material outside his shed, his children played and built sandcastles in the toxic, radioactive leachate. The prosecutor, Mr Jon Tippett QC, acknowledged that the maximum possible sentence of $300,000 in fines would be shrugged off as the price of a license to pollute by ERA, who recorded $38.6M in after tax profits the previous financial year.