Ready to pollute
The Beverley uranium mine near Gammon Ranges (South Australia) opened last Wednesday February 21, despite strong opposition from the majority of Australians to uranium mining. There is particular concern about this mine, because the pollution that will be created by the particular mining methods being employed. The Beverley Mine uses a mining technique known as in-situ leaching (ISL). It involves the pumping of an acid solution into groundwater to extract uranium for surface processing. The uranium industry increasingly favours this technique because it is cheaper to operate than conventional mines. The use of sulphuric acid as the agent to dissolve the uranium in solution is not allowed in the USA, because acid greatly increases groundwater contamination. Mine operator Heathgate Resources, a wholly owned subsidiary of US nuclear giant General Atomics, have also been given permission to discharge waste waters from the mine back into groundwater after mining. "The only way Heathgate can make a profit out of this mine is to trade off the cost to the environment", said Loretta O'Brian from Friends of the Earth. "It is the Australian community who will wear the real cost of this mine, Beverley's radioactive legacy will remain long after Heathgate have left town", she said. While Heathgate, joined by Federal Government representatives were popping their corks at the celebratory opening, outside the gate environmental groups, Friends of the Earth, and members of the Adnyamathanha community expressed their opposition to another uranium mine and what it represents - - profiteering at the expense of people and environment. "Merdeka, mate!" "Australian politicians will need to consider carefully their regional policies this year because even I am surprised by the number of Australians who consider that independence is our only option. They walk past me in the street, put their thumbs up and say "Merdeka, mate!", said West Papuan leader, Dr Jacob Rumbiak. "Merdeka", the Indonesian word for freedom or independence, is now familiar to many Australians. Dr Rumbiak was at the launch of the Australia West Papua Association in South Australia on Saturday, February 24. He was joined by Brian Butler, ATSIC's Social Justice Commissioner, and other human rights and solidarity activists including Andy Alcock, spokesperson for the Campaign for an Independent East Timor (SA) Inc. Dr Rumbiak played an important role in the establishment of the broad movement which brought an end to President Suharto's rule. Dr Rambiak served nine-and-a-half years of a 17-year prison sentence — part of his time and ideas shared with East Timor's jailed leader Xanana Gusmao. Since his release from prison, Dr Rumbiak has lived in Melbourne but is still actively involved in political life. Last October he signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the ACTU which called for an independence referendum in West Papua along the lines of the one that was conducted by the UN for East Timor in 1999. "Australians have long-held consciousness about West Papua", said Mr Alcock. "They recall that Australia bombed West Papua during WW2 to get rid of the fascist Japanese military presence. Later, it betrayed the people when Sir Garfield Barwick devised the United Nations sanctioned agreement of 1962 that gave Indonesia the licence to occupy their country. "They also remember the shameful, farcical and brutal so-called Act of Free Choice in 1969 that callously confirmed that West Papua could be governed by the criminal and genocidal Suharto dictatorship", Mr Alcock said. Mr Alcock stressed that the West Papuans "have suffered the same level of human rights violations and massive loss of life as their East Timorese neighbours since that time". David Arkins, a founding member of the Australia West Papua Association pointed out that "it is short-sighted for Australian politicians leaders need to remember that when West Papua becomes independent, it will be the biggest and the wealthiest country in the Melanesian Pacific region."