ABC: Interim report on toxic Ranger spill inconclusive: GAC

Publish Date:
10th July 2014

NEWSREADER:                      The traditional owners of the Northern Territory's Ranger Uranium Mine say the findings of an interim report on a toxic spill at the mine are not conclusive. The supervising scientist's report has found the spill from a leach tank collapse last December has had no impact on human health or on the surrounding Kakadu National Park. But the Gundjeihmi Aboriginal Corporation's Justin O'Brien says further assessment is needed.

JUSTIN O'BRIEN:                   We have some concerns about the lateness of the monitoring that informs this report. There was a delay of some six weeks before data was obtained that informs this report. That needs to be assessed properly.

NEWSREADER:                      The Australian Conservation Foundation's Dave Sweeney says the report has a limited scope.

JUSTIN O'BRIEN:                   It's not an assessment of what happened or why, and it's not an evaluation of the adequacy of the infrastructure or the management systems at Ranger Mine, and there's no recommendations on how to prevent a repeat of that massive spill.