The Ranger Uranium Mine in Kakadu is looming as the next great test of mining giant Rio Tinto, following the international outcry over the destruction of the 46,000-year-old Juukan caves in the Pilbara.
A subsidiary of Rio Tinto is in dispute with the Federal Government over paying for scientific monitoring of the mine, which is on the edge of world heritage wetlands and will close in January 2021.
Under an agreement with the Federal Government, the site must be rehabilitated by 2026.
But Energy Resources Australia (ERA), the subsidiary that owns the mine, has confirmed to RN Breakfast it is still in mediation talks with the Commonwealth after not wanting to continue agreed scientific funding.
Gavin Mudd, who is on the mine’s independent technical consultation committee, told the ABC the funding dispute was over an independent monitoring agency for the mine, called the Supervising Scientists Branch.
For the rest of this article: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-10-20/rio-tinto-owned-company-in-dispute-over-kakadu-mine-monitoring/12785478