Uranium Mining in Australia

Australia is on the verge of another uranium mining boom, as in-situ leach mining practices bring production costs down and mines once thought stopped by the anti-nuclear movement there are being opened.

The mine at Beverley, South Australia, is one such mine, located in an isolated outback area having so little economic use, according to the provincial government, that any cleanup or environmental remediation won't be necessary. The concerns of the traditional land stewards, the aboriginal Adnyamathanha people, don't count in the equations.

Scott Ludlam writes in the June issue of Western Australia's NewClear News:

"In a last ditch effort to save their land, elders of the Adnyamathanha people have invited anti-nuclear blockaders to Beverley. People are arriving from all over Australia but their numbers are small compared to the resources U.S.-owned Heathgate is bringing against them.

"In early May, the international Earth Dream environmental group reached the Beverley site and staged a series of major stop-work actions in conjunction with the Adnyamathanha people and the Flinders Ranges Environmental Action Collective (FREAC). The police cracked down hard:

"'I was arrested wrongfully and forcefully. I was (pepper) sprayed at close range, directly at my face and locked in a paddy wagon with two women, (one was asthmatic). The officer said 'I wonder what would happen if some of this accidentally got in here?' He then filled the confined space with pepper spray, sealed us inside and left us for nearly an hour in direct sun, without fresh air, water or assistance. I have never felt such pain or fear for my health before,' said Sophia Hanson.

"Thirty-one people were locked in an airtight shipping container after their arrest, and a TV cameraman was mistakenly beaten up and arrested."

Arrests have continued at the mine site. The elders of the Adnyamathanha people have called for support, which is coming from all around the country.

For more information, visit the Beverley blockade's web site at www.freac.gibsonnet.net