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Kakadu National Park, located in the Northern Territory of Australia, possesses within its boundaries a number of large uranium deposits. The uranium is legally owned by the Australian Government, and is sold internationally, having a large effect on the Australian economy. The mining has been controversial, due to the widespread publicity regarding the potential danger of nuclear power and uranium mining, as well as because of objections by some indigenous groups. This controversy is significant because it involves a number of important political issues in Australia: Native Title, the environment, and Federal-State-Territory relations.〔Lawrence, D. (2000). Kakadu: the making of a national park. Melbourne: University of Melbourne.〕 Kakadu National Park is on the World Heritage List, both for its cultural and natural value, a rare feat because few sites are featured for both reasons.〔(Goldman Environmental Prize )〕 There have been at least 150 leaks, spills and licence breaches at the Ranger Uranium Mine between 1981 and 2009.〔(Polluted water leaking into Kakadu from uranium mine )〕 ==History of uranium mining in Kakadu== Although exploration for uranium began in the Top End as early as 1944, the first uranium was found in Kakadu at Coronation Hill in 1953 by a geologist from the Commonwealth Bureau of Mineral Research. More uranium was found in 1954 and 1956 and small scale mining began in the years between 1956 and 1964. Much of this early ore was purchased by the British-American "Combined Development Agency" and the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority.〔Lawrence (2000), p 32, 51-52.〕 In the 1970s, many new deposits were discovered by aerial and ground surveys.〔Lawrence (2000), p52.〕 After a series of studies and reports, the Commonwealth of Australia and the Northern Land Council, which represented the traditional Aboriginal land owners, reached an agreement on mining, and in 1980 the Ranger Uranium Mine was completed on land owned by the Kakadu Land Trust. Technically the site of the Ranger mine and the adjacent Jabiluka area are not part of Kakadu National Park, but are completely surrounded by it, as they were specifically excluded when the park was established from 1981. Energy Resources of Australia (ERA) pays 4.25% of its gross sales revenue plus an annual rental of $200,000 for the use of the land and Ranger has paid over $200 million in royalties since 1980. The money is paid to the Commonwealth Government and ultimately distributed to Northern Territory-based Aboriginal groups, including the Traditional Owners, under the terms of the Commonwealth's Aboriginal Land Rights (NT) Act of 1976. Following a lengthy and exhausting negotiation process, Indigenous leaders agreed in 1981 to terms with Pancontinental Mining to allow the construction of an underground uranium mine at Jabiluka. Scepticism remains to this day over the fairness of this agreement. Some suggest that indigenous leaders were worn down by the negotiation process and compromised in order for it to be finished. Jabiluka was bought by Energy Resources of Australia (owners of the nearby Ranger mine) in 1991. In 1998, UNESCO's World Heritage Committee announced that they proposed to list the park as "in danger" because of uranium mining, but this tag was not applied after a subsequent analysis by the World Heritage Committee when the Environment Minister, Robert Hill observed that many world heritage areas have mining and other extractive industries in or adjacent to them. Both the Ranger mine and the Jabiluka mining lease predate the national park and world heritage area.〔 In 1999, the UNESCO's World Heritage Committee held their third extraordinary session "to decide whether to immediately inscribe Kakadu National Park () on the List of World Heritage in Danger."〔In case of urgent need, the World Heritage Committee has the authority to make a new entry in the List of World Heritage in Danger at any time, without the consent of the State Party concerned, according to (Article 11 (4) ) of the ''Convention''.〕 The proposal was turned down by the large majority of the Committee who saw that the threat was not urgent enough, therefore the sovereignty of Australia must be respected. The Committee could only "expresses its deep regret" that the voluntary suspension of construction of the mine decline at Jabiluka has not taken place, and was "gravely concerned" about the serious impacts to the living cultural values of the park.〔UNESCO (12 July 1999). (Third Extraordinary Session of the Committee ). () Retrieved on 29 May 2007〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Uranium mining in Kakadu National Park」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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