Introduction

overview...why jabiluka?....historical background

Overview

The proposed uranium mine at Jabiluka sits on Darwin's doorstep, just outside Jabiru in Kakadu National Park. Despite the amount of news items that this development has generated, how many of us know anything more about it, other than the broad outlines of the controversies surround it?

We have all heard of the World Heritage reports, about the protests of the activists who supported the blockade in 1998. Most of us know, too, about the resistance of the traditional owners, the Mirrar people, to the mine, and of the international attention and recognition that they have attracted. We have heard also about the many economic benefits that are claimed by the developers of the mine (Energy Resources Australia or 'ERA') and of the backing they have received from the NT and the Commonwealth governments.

Deeper Issues

How many of us, however, have anything more than a fleeting knowledge of the deeper issues which these various positions are based on? This issue of mining uranium at Jabiluka certainly arouses a good deal of passionate argument and heaps of propaganda. However, a good deal of the debate about the Jabiluka mine lacks a informed basis in knowledge of the complex historical, political and economic background to the decision to mine.

The purpose of this web site is not to put forward one side or the other. It is certainly not set out in order to convince you that the mine is either a "good thing" or a "bad thing". This site provides material which will enable you to explore many of the deeper issues. You will then be better able to form your own considered judgement, based on some of the best available evidence.

By following the trails set out in this site, you will able to find out about :

• The history of Kakadu National Park and why mining was permitted there (World Heritage and Kakadu)
• The ecological impact of uranium mining (Uranium Mining and the Environment)
• The global political issues surrounding uranium as a source of energy (Uranium as and Energy Resource)
• The economic costs and benefits of uranium mining at Jabiluka (Uranium Mining and Economic Development)
• The constitutional and legal framework of uranium in the mining the NT (Laws, Constitutions, Conventions)
• The experiences of Indigenous peoples and organisations with mining (Indigenous Peoples and the Cultural Impact of Mining)

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