published by WISE Bulletin in May/June 1979
Mining and Natives peoples
UPDATE:
In WISE 4 we advertised the book Purari-Overpowering Papua New Guinea? published by the Purari Action Group, with the help of International Development Action in Australia. That book is now available in Europe through CIMRA at a cost of £2.50 plus postage to individuals. contact: CIMRA, 92 plimsoll Rd.,
London N4, England
On the 21st of March, 1000 people on the Orkney Islands marched in a silent protest against the attempts of the SSEB (South of Scotland Electricity Board) to maintain an option on uranium mining and exploration in the Orkneys.
The Orkney Islands Council submitted a draft structure plan for approval to the Secretary of State of Scotland: the draft contains the controversial clause forbidding the prospecting, mining extraction of uranium in Orkney.
The South of Scotland Electricity Board formally appealed against the Orkney Islands Council, as a result of which an "Examination in Public" was opened.
Already in Feb '77, the Orkney Islands Council had unanimously rejected an application from the SSEB for permission to begin uranium prospecting.
The SSEB had used 'underhand tactics' in gaining extraction rights. In 1976 their agents visited 40 farmers living in the 'uranium corridor' and persuaded them to sign a document which, gave the SSEB the right to testdrill on their land. What most of the farmers did not realize was that they had also given the SSEB the right to mine uranium on their land if it was in the 'national interest' to do so. and that this was binding for 7 years. Under massive local pressure, the Orkney Islands Council threw out the SSEB 'legal documents' and all.
Contact: SCRAM
2A Ainsley Place
Edinburgh
Scotland
The "Gesellschaft für bedrohte Völker" started a campaign against the participation of German companies in Australian uranium mining on Aboriginal land. 2400 signatures were handed over to the "Deutsche Uran GmbH" in Frankfurt.
The action is the result of a visit by a delegation of Australian aborigines to West Germany at the end of last year at which occasion the Aborigines asked for support; the mining activities endanger their culture and in fact their sheer existence.
The "Gesellschaft für bedrohte Völker" points to the historical example of 'Rum Jungle Mine':
in 1963 after 14 years of mining the mine was closed, but an area of 100 km2 flooded by the Finnis River has been radioactively contaminated;, even today the water of the river cannot be used.
Australia has at the moment no commercial atomic power plants. Uranium ore is mined by multinational companies for export purposes, the "Deutsche Uran Gesellschaft GmbH" being one of them. The German firm has three mining concessions in Australia. Despite fierce protests of the Aboriginal community and a mass movement against uranium mining throughout Australia, preparations for mining are in a advanced stage. The campaign goes on till the end of this year
.
Contact: Gesellschaft für
Bedrohte Völker
c/o
Annette Keimburg
7400
Tübingen
Gartenstr. 137
West Germany
(7071) 212511
Save the North program
A group of Canadian indigenous peoples are setting up an educational program aimed at building resistance to uranium mining in the Canadian north. They are planning to: hold a series of informational workshops, making use of films and slides, supplemented by discussions; distribute readable material on uranium and nuclear development and its effects upon human beings, animals, fish, vegetation, water and its destructive potential; explore alternative methods of employment, concentrating on an indigenous based source.
Contact: Peter Deranger
c/o
Inter-Church Energy
Committee
100 5th Ave. N
Saskatoon
Saskatchewan
Canada
The Hazards of Uranium Exploration by Jim Terral (WISE subscriber).
Contents: Uranium Exploration: Why Worry?; The Genelle Water Supply:
Who Decides?; What is Radiation?; Biological Effects. .Somatic Effects, Genetic Effects, Teratogenesis; Background Radiation; Environmental Pathways: Surface Water Quality, Air Quality, Ground Water Quality; Workers Health; Notes.
Price:
$2.00 plus $.50 mailing. Bulk orders available.
Contact: Rainwood Books
P.O. Box 16
Slocan Park, B.C. Vog2eo
Canada
Three persons charged with "intimidation" for sitting in front of bulldozers on July 10, 1978 at a mining site in British Columbia were given absolute discharge by the provincial court on March 9, 1979. The judge cited the following reasons for their discharge:
- Inadequate (to the point of non-existence) provincial and federal legislation governing uranium mining: existing regulations -although complied with by the mining company in this case- were inadequate to protect workers and public.
- The president of Manny Consultants, the mining company involved, seemed unaware of the health hazards of radiation and unconcerned about risks to crew, himself, or community: minimal precautions such as wearing dosimeters (portable indicators of radiation levels), monitoring on-site radiation levels and plugging drill holes which could emit radon gas were not taken.
- Conflicting testimony of Crown witnesses about whether mining company knew it was working in a watershed.
- High qualifications and testimonies of defense witnesses, who cited evidence from comparatively recent studies which indicate that any increase in exposure to low levels of ionizing radiation results in increased risk to health.
An absolute discharge is not the same as an acquittal. The judge said that a free society places responsibility on its citizens and that civil disobedience had proven a benefit in the past.
Contact: Kootenay Nuclear Study Group
, Box 205, Nelson, B.C. V1L 5P9
Canada
Boycott the ANZ Bank
The boycott of the Australia New Zealand (ANZ) bank was launched during rallies against uranium mining on April 7, 1979. The ANZ Bank, through its 100% owned nominee company, is a major share holder in all the uranium mining companies in Australia.
The campaign is intended to convince the bank to redirect its shares and free itself of uranium involvement. In South Australia, the April 7 rally stopped outside the ANZ Bank and set up "The Peoples Bank" (TPB) where people left more than $500 in symbolic donations for the campaign against nuclear energy.
Contact: CANE
Ashley Cambell
310 Angus St.
Adelaide 5000 SA
Australia
The French company Minatome proposes to mine a uranium deposit in Queensland, Australia. The Queensland government is expected to grant a mining lease within weeks.
The Queensland government also stated that they hoped this would help their application to the federal government for a uranium enrichment plant.
A spokesperson from the local anti-nuclear movement said the movement should resist at, any cost any export of the uranium to France, who has not signed the NPT and continues atmospheric nuclear testing.
There will be a meeting soon of Queensland unions to decide their policy on the Minatome mine. The Amalgamated Metal Workers and Shipwrights Union, the Building Workers Union and the maritime unions in Queensland are opposed to uranium mining.
Source: Time and Energy No. 8 1979
Uranium Mining in North Saskatchewan, by Bill Harding. This book raises serious questions about the findings of the Cluff Lake Board of Inquiry and the Saskatchewan Governments decision to expand uranium mining in the province. The author believes present policies lock Saskatchewan into a global economic system which creates and deepens underdevelopment and poverty -- in Saskatchewan and around the world.
Copies $2.00 single; $1.50 for 2 to 20 copies; $1.00 for
21 or more copies.
Contact: Regina Group for a Non-Nuclear Society
2138
McIntyre Street, Regina
Saskatchewan S4P 2R7
Canada
The first major nation-wide anti-nuclear demonstrations this year coincided with the world-wide response to the Harrisburg nuclear power plant accident. On April 6th and 7th, major rallies took place in all major Australian cities.
In Sydney, NSW, on April 7th, 30-35,000 people were on the streets marching against uranium mining. The State premier, Neville Wran, ordered police to revoke the Sydney City Council's ban on street marches on the morning of the demonstration, thus permitting the march to be legal. Organisers say this is the largest ever anti-nuclear demonstration in Sydney. It was supported by churches, the Labor Party, the Movement Against Uranium Mining, the Land Rights Campaign, among others.
The rallies were organised around the theme of support for the struggle of the Oenpelli peoples on whose land Ranger companies have begun the muddy polluting preparation for mining uranium. Another theme was support for the Trade Union movement's strong stand against uranium mining. This policy is continually under pressure by government and industry.
In Victoria, another theme was opposition to State government plans to build a nuclear power plant by 1990, and a uranium enrichment plant in the near future.
Contact: MAUM, P0 Box N196
Grosvenor St Sydney
2000 Australia or
CANAL, 27 Smith St.
Collingwood, Vic.
Australia
