The Guardian 24 August, 2005
Potential huge
uranium deposit in Pacific
The Pacific island nation of Niue could be home to huge uranium resources; equal to or bigger than those at Olympic Dam in South Australia. Junior explorer Yamarna Goldfields Ltd has signed an agreement with Canberra-based explorer Avian Mining Pty Ltd to take a stake of up to 80 per cent in the project and to spend $1.2 million on exploration work.
Geological modelling done by Avian and government scientists from New Zealand and Australia reportedly show potential for a massive deposit beneath the limestone of Niue, which at 260 square kilometres is the world’s largest coral atoll.
Niue currently has little industry and the population has shrunk from a peak of 5200 in 1966 to about 2100 in 2004. Most inhabitants have migrated to New Zealand and the country’s reliance on foreign aid has worsened since it was hit by a devastating hurricane in 2004.
Dr Satish Chand of the Asia Pacific School of Economics and Government at the Australian National University has said that a mine of the size predicted would have far-reaching consequences for Niue. "If there is a big find it will raise the challenge of economic management. If the resource is managed well then it could be a boon for their development but if it mismanaged you have the problems of Nauru", he said.
The people of Niue would do well to look at the experience of Indigenous people the world over before entering into any arrangements for the commencement of mining. The presence of uranium mines on the lands of Australian Aboriginal peoples has not lifted those populations out of poverty or given them greater power to control their own destinies. It has divided communities and poses a serious environmental threat to their traditional lands.
Pacific island nations know only too well how difficult it can be to get justice and compensation when processes involved in the nuclear cycle go wrong. The people of the Marshall Islands are still waiting for the US government to adequately compensate communities affected by the atomic weapons tests that took place on the central Pacific islands between 1946 and 1958.