39 Aquitaine Australia Minerals (Pty) Ltd A subsidiary of France's second most important, state-owned, oil company, it has JVs in gas (Queensland) (1) and nickel exploration (Western Australia) (2).
It had a JV with Jimberlana Minerals (AUS) and Pan D'Or Explorations (AUS) to explore for uranium in the Northern Territory in 1979; Aquitaine was to earn up to 50% interest (3).
In 1981 ELF expanded its non-petroleum exploration activity through its Australian subsidiaries. Among its JVs are one with MIM at Lady Loretta, Queensland (lead, zinc, and silver), and with St Joe Minerals (USA) in Western Australia (4).
In the late 1980s, together with Total Mining Australia and Urangesellschaft, Elf Aquitaine Triako Mines (as a JV) opened up a trial uranium mine at Manyingee near Onslow on the west coast of Western Australia. The companies used in situ leaching techniques, with an alkali solution consisting of hydrogen peroxide, sodium bicarbonate and hypochlorite. Although claimed to be simply a test (since no mining licence had been granted) the experiment lasted 169 days, involving total injection into the orebody of 40.5 million litres of leaching solution. Environmental and pro-Aboriginal organisations were asking by 1986 where the one and a half tonnes of uranium produced at Manyingee had been sent (probably Ranger) and where the groundwater monitoring records were to be found (if indeed they were kept at all). Enquiries revealed nothing, except a wall of hostility by the companies (Total told one enquirer, when asked if the company had commenced Stage Two of its operations "that is none of your business") and bland assurances from the government (5).
Anti-uranium activists who visited the mine at this time were able to photograph containers on site, and reported large piles of waste with virtually no protection for the public and wildlife (6).
SOURCE: "The Gulliver File - Mines, people and land: a global battleground" by Roger Moody.
Published in 1992 by Minewatch, 218 Liverpool Road, London Nl ILE, UK, and WISE-Glen Aplin, Po Box 87, Glen Aplin Q 4381, Australia.
Distribution: Sales to bookshops: Pluto Press, 345 Archway Road, London N 6 5AA, UK. Sales to the mining industry and libraries: Uitgeverij Jan van Arkel, A. Numankade 17, 357t KP Utrecht, the Netherlands.
***Note to electronic texts: selections from Minewatch are available to researchers on corporate and mining affairs. However, the detailed REFERENCES and CHARTS in the print version are not available in electronic form. You are encouraged to order the complete book from the sources above.***
All rights reserved. © Minewatch, 1992.
Page last updated December 26, 1997.
| Back to the Gulliver Archives | or | Back to the Manyingee Page |
Copyright © SEA-US 1997 | ||