THE end of uranium oxide production at Jabiru’s Ranger mine signals the last phase of the mine’s full closure – final rehabilitation of the mine’s 79sq km project area.
The mine is surrounded by, but separate from the World Heritage listed Kakadu National Park, which is approximately 20,000sq km.
Rehabilitating the mine is expected to cost about $808m.
The operator of the mine, Energy Resources Australia (ERA), says it is unequivocally committed to best-in-class rehabilitation of the site and subsequent monitoring.
Its detractors are concerned remnants of a tailings dam at the site could leak toxic contaminants into Kakadu National Park.
The issue was raised in a report into the mine’s closure next month, released by the University of Sydney, the Australian Conservation Foundation, the Mineral Policy Institute and the Environment Centre NT.
ERA chief executive Paul Arnold said the company was continuing to work “very constructively” with the federal government’s Supervising Scientist Branch and all other regulators and key stakeholders, including the Mirarr traditional owners, as it progressed toward its shared objective of rehabilitating the site to the required high standards.
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The Ranger mine is one of the most highly regulated mines in the world.
It is governed by both federal and Northern Territory legislation.
ERA said governments, traditional owner representatives, independent scientists and the broader community had insight and input to the operation and rehabilitation of the mine through several standing committees, including the Alligator Rivers Regional Technical Committee, the Alligator Rivers Regional Advisory Committee and the Ranger Minesite Technical Committee.
It pointed out that the federal government’s Supervising Scientist Branch had conducted research and provided advice to governments and key stakeholders for the past 40 years.
This included “ERA’s planning and performance against the environmental requirements which define the environmental objectives for Ranger operations and rehabilitation”.
ERA said the Supervising Scientist Branch had reported no detrimental impacts to the surrounding environment from the Ranger mine, and its strategic priority was the comprehensive rehabilitation of the Ranger Project Area to a standard that met regulatory requirements and the expectations of the traditional landowners.
The man who will oversee much of that at Jabiru is Forrest Egerton, who until last Friday was manager of operations at Ranger uranium mine.
From Monday Mr Egerton will be the mine’s general manager for closure operations.
Mr Egerton has been with ERA at Ranger for 12 years.
As the mine’s manager of operations, he has overseen production of uranium oxide and some of the closure activities such as tailings transfer and water management and treatment across the site.
He readily acknowledged the significant amount of work to be done over the next five years to complete the rehabilitation task.
“Rehabilitation has already been going for a number of years,” Mr Egerton said.
“But we aim to have the mine site fully rehabilitated by January 2026.
“There is a significant amount of work that has already happened and a significant amount of work still to be done.
“We have been dredging and transferring our tailings into our pits and treating our water, but there are some major projects that must be completed between now and 2026.”
The first open pit at the Ranger mine has now been fully backfilled, and a revegetation program has recently started in that area.
Since 2012, ERA has spent $642m on rehabilitation and water management projects.
Mr Egerton said there would still be around 150 workers on site at the Ranger mine, but that number would fluctuate as people came and went, dependent on the project’s requirements.
“I’m excited about the future, and the opportunity to be involved in the rehabilitation of the Ranger mine, and to show that we can do a world-class project and return the landscape to its natural state.
“Over the next months we will clean the plant out and get it ready for demolition,” Mr Egerton said.
“This requires running all the ore out, and all the residual product out through the plant, shutting down power to areas, decoupling pipe work, de-energising areas.
“Mining equipment will be put into pit three and buried as landfill.”
Mr Egerton said being part of the Jabiru community with his family had been one of his greatest joys.
“I have really enjoyed overseeing the production of the plant and to break throughput records in our last year after 40 years of operation is a significant milestone.
“I’ll certainly miss a lot of the people who have gone, and I’m sure it will be a similar feeling when I also walk away from this site for the final time.
“Jabiru still plays an important service hub role for the region, and I believe that is the case moving forward with the lure of a World Heritage listed national park.”
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For its part, the Australian Conservation Foundation has pledged to monitor the mine’s rehabilitation, saying Australia has a long history of substandard mine rehabilitation.
“This work is a key test of the commitment of ERA and Rio Tinto, as well as the NT and federal governments,” Australian Conservation Foundation nuclear campaigner Dave Sweeney said.
“Plans for cleaning up the site of the Ranger mine are being hampered by an unrealistic rehabilitation time frame.”
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