Yellowcaked- Miners contaminated at ERA uranium mine.

There has been a new worker safety breach at Energy Resources of Australia’s Ranger uranium mine in Kakadu with confirmation today that 15 workers have been exposed to elevated levels of uranium oxide following a botched recovery operation at the aging mine. Reports say workers – dressed only in paper overalls and without the required monitoring devices – were literally ‘caked’ in uranium during the incident last month.

This is the latest in a long history of environmental and occupational leaks, spills, incidents and accidents. In 2003 an independent Senate Inquiry described operations at Ranger mine as underperforming and not complying with key requirements and ERA has previously been found guilty of operational breaches and radiation exposures.

Earlier this week ERA announced its intention to mine a further deposit of between 30-40,000 tonnes of uranium ore on the Ranger lease. This would be a massive burden on the Kakadu environment and cause massive long term pollution problems. Today’s news again shows that the company cuts corners and compromise environmental and human health.

ERA’s assurances – like its workers protective equipment – are paper thin.

Dave Sweeney
Nuclear Free Campaigner
Australian Conservation Foundation