The rehabilitation process of the shuttered uranium mine recently marked a major milestone, but a recent report on a neighbouring deposit raised questions of continued mining versus environmental and social obligations.
The life of a mine, as the resources industry knows well, does not end when resources are exhausted.
Rehabilitation is a critical process of any mining operation, especially in the context of companies maintaining their social license to operate.
But what if there’s potentially more resources to be mined?
The Ranger uranium mine in the Northern Territory is a pertinent example of that exact question.
Ranger rehabilitation
While Australia hosts almost one-third of the world’s uranium resources, the country only has a handful of operations that actively mine the commodity.
Ranger was one of those operations. When it was shuttered in 2021 after more than 40 years, the operator was faced with the task – and financial cost – of rehabilitating the surrounding area.
Given the mine is located in the World-Heritage-listed Kakadu National Park, that is no easy feat.
“Mining operations cause significant environmental disturbance, and if not managed appropriately may have detrimental impacts,” the Federal Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water said of the Ranger site.
“Rehabilitation of disturbed sites is the process of returning the land to an acceptable state depending on the agreed values and end land use.
“Rehabilitation typically occurs in multiple stages and can take many years to complete.”
A major milestone in that process was met in early September, when the Federal Government announced it had secured the ongoing rehabilitation of the Ranger uranium mine and the site’s eventual return to the Mirarr Traditional Owners.
Federal Resources and Northern Australia Minister Madeleine King introduced a Bill to parliament to amend legislation that would ensure the Government oversees the clean-up beyond 2026, guaranteeing the mine’s operator, Energy Resources Australia (ERA), completes the rehabilitation.
The Atomic Energy Amendment (Mine Rehabilitation and Closure) Bill 2022, introduced into the House of Representatives, represents the first step in extending ERA’s authority to continue Ranger rehabilitation until the work is complete.
“The Ranger mine must be restored to a condition similar to (the) surrounding Kakadu National Park,” King said.
“For such an environmentally, culturally and historically important region, only the highest standard of rehabilitation will do.
“The Bill will also enable progressive closing out of the site so areas which have been rehabilitated can transition back to underlying Aboriginal land tenure. This will allow Ranger’s Mirarr Traditional Owners to get on country as soon as it is safe to do so.”
ERA, with the support of majority shareholder Rio Tinto, committed to the long-term plans and has been progressively rehabilitating the Ranger project area since the 1990s.
While well advanced in some areas, it became apparent the full process will extend beyond January 2026 and the new Bill is designed to ensure the regulatory framework is extended until rehabilitation is complete.
Federal Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney said the Bill had the support of the Northern Land Council and Gundjeihmi Aboriginal Corporation, which represent the Mirarr Traditional Owners.
“While a full handover is still some years away, this legislation will give both ERA and the (Traditional) Owners a line of sight for the land’s eventual rehabilitation and return,” she said.
“Ranger’s rehabilitation is a priority for all parties and we all look forward to seeing Ranger being a world-class example of mine rehabilitation.”
The question of continued mining
While the Ranger rehabilitation plan is in place, recent developments regarding the neighbouring Jabiluka uranium deposit have raised other questions regarding the project.
ERA recently commissioned a report that said the Jabiluka uranium assets would be valued at up to $1.2 billion. And while it acknowledged the Mirarr Traditional Owners’ long-standing opposition to the development of Jabiluka as a mining operation, the report indicated the resource retains “strategic value”.
Rio Tinto, however, has been resolute that it wants to prioritise the clean-up of Ranger and will not develop Jabiluka without the consent of the Mirarr Traditional Owners. Rio’s chief executive for Australia, Kellie Parker, said the company remained “totally committed to completing the rehab at Ranger to the correct environmental standards”.
The Gundjeihmi Aboriginal Corporation supports Rio’s stance.
“Gundjeihmi welcomes Rio Tinto’s commitment to respect the long-held opposition of the Mirarr to mining at Jabiluka,” Gundjeihmi Aboriginal Corporation chief executive Justin O’Brien said.
ERA’s report comes as the company is looking to raise funds for the estimated $2 billion bill for Ranger’s rehabilitation.
Rio Tinto has indicated it is prepared to support a proposed rights offering to raise the necessary funding on the proviso that any money raised is dedicated solely to rehabilitation and no mining development.
Responding to criticisms, ERA said it understood that mining at Jabiluka would not happen without the consent of the Traditional Owners.
“As previously disclosed, Jabiluka is subject to a long-term care and maintenance agreement (LTCMA) between the Mirarr and ERA,” the company said in a statement to The Australian Financial Review.
“This agreement ensures that no development of Jabiluka can occur without the approval of the traditional owners. ERA has upheld both the intent and the words of the LTCMA for a number of years and will continue to do so.”
Discussing the broader issue of Ranger’s rehabilitation, Parker said finding a solution satisfactory for the Mirarr people was Rio Tinto’s “utmost priority and commitment”.
“We are actively seeking to reflect the wishes of the Mirarr people in our approach to the funding of ERA’s rehabilitation commitment, having long understood their opposition to further mining on their country,” she said.
“We believe the successful rehabilitation of the Ranger project area, which is of critical importance to the Mirarr people, Rio Tinto and ERA, can be achieved in a way that is consistent with the Mirarr people’s wishes.”
The Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water has also been clear in its views on Ranger’s rehabilitation.
“The stringent environmental objectives stipulated by the Australian Government require the site to reach a state that is similar to the adjacent area, such that it could be incorporated into Kakadu National Park should that be decided in the future,” it said.
The ongoing situation at the Ranger mine is an example of an increasingly pertinent issue in the resources sector. Mine rehabilitation will be more and more important as environmental, social and governance (ESG) influences investor sentiment more and more.
Fortunately, that is matched by the fact more and more mining companies recognise that rehabilitation is an ongoing process during a mine’s lifecycle, rather than an end-of-life necessity.
Working to establish new growth as early as possible means a better chance for the post-mining land to be usable in the future