Australia announced on Saturday a ban on mining at one of the world’s largest high-grade uranium deposits, citing the site’s “enduring connection” to Indigenous Australians.
Jabiluka and Kakadu National Park
The Jabiluka deposit in northern Australia is situated within the heritage-listed Kakadu National Park, a tropical landscape of gorges and waterfalls featured in the first “Crocodile Dundee” film.
Honoring the Wishes of the Mirrar People
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese declared that the national park would be expanded to include the Jabiluka site, which has never been mined, fulfilling the decades-long wishes of the Mirrar people, an Aboriginal group.
“They were seeking a guarantee that there would never be uranium mining on their land,” Albanese told Labor Party supporters in Sydney. “This means there will never be mining at Jabiluka,” he added.
Ancient Artifacts and Cultural Significance
Archaeologists unearthed a collection of stone axes and tools near the Jabiluka site in 2017, dating back tens of thousands of years.
This discovery serves as “proof of the extraordinary and enduring connection Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have had with our land,” said Albanese. “The Mirrar people have loved and cared for their land for over 60,000 years. This beautiful part of Australia is home to some of the oldest rock art in the world,” he added.
Long History of Conflict
Discovered in the early 1970s, attempts to exploit the Jabiluka deposit have been entangled in legal battles between Indigenous custodians and mining companies for decades.
It stands as one of the world’s largest untapped high-grade uranium deposits, according to the World Nuclear Association.
Previous Mining Leasesand Controversy
Energy Resources of Australia (ERA), controlled by mining giant Rio Tinto, held mining leases for Jabiluka. However, the preservation of Indigenous sites has faced heightened scrutiny in Australia since Rio Tinto blasted the Juukan Gorge caves in 2020 to expand an iron ore mine, sparking widespread condemnation.
These 46,000-year-old caves contained some of the country’s oldest artifacts and were considered sacred by an Indigenous Australian group.
Opposition’s Nuclear Power Agenda
The conservative Australian opposition has pledged to construct nuclear power plants across the country if elected, reversing a 26-year-old policy against nuclear energy.