3CR
 Community Radio 855am

THE RADIO-ACTIVE SHOW

With Eric Miller and Linda Marks

Saturday at 10.00am

13th February 1999

Good morning, this is the Radio Active Show brought to you by the Sustainable Energy and Anti-Uranium Service. I'm Linda Marks and with me in the studio is Eric Miller. (Good Morning) The Radio Active Show is a weekly program bringing you news and information on Nuclear, Peace and Energy issues.

On today's show we have good news and bad news. Firstly we hear from Dennis Matthews from the Nuclear Issues Group in South Australia. He is speaking about the proposed Radioactive Waste Dump and the expansion of the Roxby Downs uranium mine. Things are not so bright on that front. Then we report the good news. A Stop Jabiluka rally in Melbourne, where they were celebrating the flagging share prices of ERA and North Ltd.

Billa Kalina is a huge area in Northern South Australia. It has been picked out by the Federal Government as the place to put a radioactive waste dump. It is an area the size of Tasmania and stretches from North of Port Augusta to just South of Coober Pedy. Within that area is WMC's Olympic Dam Operations at Roxby Downs and the US spy base at Nurrungar. WMC have just announced that their profit for this year is half of what it was last year and that the cost of their massive expansion at Olympic Dam has blown out to 2 billion dollars. That is an increase of a third.

Eric spoke to Dennis Matthews from the Nuclear Issues Group in South Australia. Eric Asked Dennis, what's happened on the Radioactive Waste Dump front since the government named Billa Kalina as the area for the dump?

Dennis Matthews: What has happened since then is that an organisation called Pangea Resources that is based in the US has said that Australia is the ideal place for the world's radioactive waste. The Government's response to this is to deny that they knew anything about it but apparently it was part of the Pangea strategy to allow them to do that and they only involved in their discussions State Ministers and Federal bureaucrats. But as a result of that and the public outcry about having the world's radioactive waste dumped in Australia, the Government has now decided to refer to this waste dump area in the Billa Kalina area of South Australia as a low level waste dump, which it never was. Never was a low level dump, it was always meant to be for low and intermediate level waste. And intermediate radioactive waste is actually about the strongest waste we have in Australia, for example, the material from the reprocessing of fuel rods from the Lucas Heights nuclear reactor is destined to go into the repository as are the reactors themselves when they are decommissioned in a years' time.

Eric Miller: How are they going to bury the stuff?

Dennis Matthews: There are two types of structures being planned for Billa Kalina, for this repository. Which is just a fancy word for a dump really. One is below ground, unlined, but only shallow, so it's called a shallow burial. The lower level waste is to be dumped directly into these unlined shallow burial sites. The more radioactive material, including the material I just referred to like the reprocessed fuel rods and the nuclear reactors from Lucas Heights, would go in an above ground structure. That would be like a concrete bunker that would have to be ventilated because of the build up of radioactive radon gas and things like that.

Eric Miller: For the high level waste, would that only be an interim storage, or would it be permanent?

Dennis Matthews: No, for the higher level waste above ground, it is intended to be permanent. And it will have to be very permanent like hundreds of thousands of years. I don't know many buildings that have lasted that long, probably the pyramids haven't lasted that long have they?

Eric Miller: No, that's about 5,000 years and they are crumbling at the moment.

Dennis Matthews: Perhaps they can out do the pyramids, I don't know.

Eric Miller: So, in a year or so we could have a nuclear waste dump out there in South Australia.

Dennis Matthews: It is a so-called National Repository but it is really a misnomer because it's mainly for the wastes at Lucas Heights. There is nothing really national about it. Probably South Australia will want to put its waste there but most of the waste, 90% of it will come from Lucas Heights. Western Australia and Queensland already have their own waste dumps and South Australia has its own also. That is at Radium Hill, at the old mine works at Radium Hill. This so-called National Repository is only really needed for Lucus Heights.

Eric Miller: On another subject. In that area there is WMC's Olympic Dam Operations and they have been undergoing an expansion.

Dennis Matthews: Yes. They have got an expansion up from… They were producing at about 87,000 tonnes per annum of copper and associated products. Their original EIS allowed them to go up to 150,000. A new EIS has permitted them to go to 200,000. But the expansion from 87,000 to 200,000 is being done all in one go. This is referred to the expansion project.

Eric Miller: And they have just about completed that expansion now.

Dennis Matthews: They have. They are actually running 2 months ahead of schedule and this has caused considerable problems in South Australia because of the power demands from that expansion. Take the new smelter for example. We have had blackouts in South Australia. Part of South Australia had to be blacked out recently because the demand was too high. That increase of demand was due to just one source, the fact that we went over our limit, just due to Roxby. They have increased their demand. They have trebled their power demand from 40 – 120 megawatts. And because they did it 2 months ahead of schedule, and the increased demand occurred slap bang in the middle of summer which is a peak period as far as electricity demand is concerned. Instead of coming at the end of summer when there wouldn't have been any problem, they are rescheduling.

The fact that they are 2 months ahead of schedule has caused 2 problems. One is the power crisis in South Australia, the other is the cost overruns of the project. The project has run 30% over the original estimate.

Eric Miller: This project that was just over a billion dollar project has now gone to 2 billion.

Dennis Matthews: Yes, it's gone to close to 2 billion (dollars) now. It started off at around 1.5 I think and it is now 30% over the original estimate.

Linda Marks: The Roxby uranium mine gets it's water from the Great Artesian Basin that also feeds unique mound springs around the edge of Lake Eyre South. These springs have been damaged because of the reduced flow of water. This is due to the extraction of water from the artesian basin for the mine.

While at the same time as damaging the springs, the Roxby mine has already produced a mountain of radioactive waste, some 150ha, 10 metres tall. In 20 years this mountain of radioactive waste will cover 700ha and be 35 metres tall.

The under estimation of the costs of the expansion is likely to become a problem to WMC. Dennis goes onto talk about other problems WMC have been having with their estimations. Back to Dennis:

Dennis Matthews: That's not the only thing that's gone over the original estimates. It seems to becoming a habit with Western Mining with that project. If I can just give you some idea of the things they have miscalculated over the years. They reckoned that they would be producing 150,000 tonnes by 1993. In fact they are only half way there in 1999, they are about 5 or 6 years behind schedule there. They said they were going to have an annual revenue of somewhere between 440 and 600 million (dollars) a year by 1993. In fact in 1997 there was only 350 million and that's $97 compared with $82 so that's a huge difference. They reckoned they would be producing royalties of between 18 and 28 million in 1993 in fact by 1997 they were producing only 10 million, 1993 dollars, so there is a huge discrepancy there again. They reckoned they would be employing between 2,268 and 2,815 people by 1993. In fact 1997 their direct employment was only 946, that's about one third of what they predicted. They reckoned they'd be selling uranium for $25-35 Australian, that's 1982 dollars, per pound. And yet at the end 1998 the spot price for uranium was only $A14, 1998 dollars, so there is a huge discrepancy there again. And finally they reckoned that in 1995 their greenhouse emissions, the nuclear industry claims that they don't have any, they reckoned their greenhouse emissions for 1994-95 would be 184,000 tonnes per year. A year later they said, sorry we've made a mistake, in fact it was 352,000 tonnes per year.

Eric Miller: That was quite a big increase there.

Dennis Matthews: Yes. It's a doubling in fact. For an industry that admits no greenhouse gasses mind you.

Eric Miller: Their profits aren't quite what they should be.

Dennis Matthews: Their profits have gone way down too and I think part of that is because they have speeded up the expansion project up at Roxby and that's caused problems for the whole of South Australia as I said, not just Roxby but the businesses and households around Adelaide.

Eric Miller: Their uranium production will go up accordingly I suppose.

Dennis Matthews: Yes, they are looking for a 2-3 times increase in uranium production and copper production. They are talking about increasing copper up to 150,000 tonnes per annum. Before the expansion it was 87,000 tonnes per annum. They are talking about increasing uranium production to 3-3,500 tonnes per year and so on, silver and gold.

Eric Miller: And that would be by the end of this year they will have that in place.

Dennis Matthews: Yes. The interesting thing is that because of all of the poor estimates, the return to the State has been quite small. If you take a look at the direct costs and benefits to the State, the costs being what the State put in the way of infrastructure for the project and what the State got back in royalties, it is only about a year ago that we broke even. That's after 10 years of operation. We are only a little bit in the black in the Roxby Downs account.

Eric Miller: So the South Australian people have been carrying that mine up until now?

Dennis Matthews: They have been carrying it and they have been giving away all of these resources. The mineral resources and the water resources from the Great Artesian Basin were essentially given away until about a year ago. And now we a getting a pittance for the huge amount of resources that belong to the State, belong to the people. We have got a pittance from Western Mining

Eric Miller: Thanks for that Dennis

Linda Marks: We were listening to Dennis Matthews from the Nuclear Issues Group in South Australia and the music played during that interview was 'Walking With The Wild Life' recorded at ConFest a few years ago.

Over the last 3 years ERA's share price has dropped 65%. Their profit margin has dropped accordingly and the Company proposed on the 31st of March that they will reduce the Ranger mill production by a third. The Jabiluka Action Group, last Wednesday, celebrated this situation with a rally in Melbourne that started outside the GPO and marched to the Stock Exchange. Eric Miller brought back this report.

Chanting: 'Hey North, you're running out of time, you're never going to get you're Jabiluka mine….'

Speaker: What we have is the most dynamic and the most relentless campaign for Aboriginal rights and against uranium mining that we have seen in this country for more than a decade. What North Ltd has is a huge problem at Jabiluka. Just imagine the situation from their point of view. Say that you are a director of North Ltd. You'd be sitting around the board table of one of Australia's top 50 corporations. Last Thursday the stock market as a whole hit a record high in Australia. The stock market in Australia has never been so healthy. At the same time, North Ltd announced that it had a record profit. It's been around since 1912, North Ltd, it announced a record half yearly profit of $71 million. Yet despite a record profit, yet despite record levels on the stock exchange, North Ltd share price continues to hover around the all time low of $2.43. North Ltd shares are back where they were half a decade ago. They haven't benefited from the surge on the stock exchange. They haven't benefited from the dirty money profits.

And the reason for that is fairly simple. A lot of the reason is you people here today. The thousands of people who have marched against the Jabiluka mine and the 67% of Australians who are opposed to mining uranium in Australia's biggest national park and dumping 20 million tonnes of radioactive waste on the land of the Mirrar People.

North's share price and ERA's share price, were described in the Age just before Christmas, as a dog performer for the year. ERA's share price is a dog according to the business writer in the Age. It's not a nice thing to have said about your company. And the reason for that is not hard to find if you listen to the management gurus. They talk about the fact that when there is a long public campaign against a mining company, when that company's name is constantly in the news the way that North Ltd has been in the news, trashing the lives of Aboriginal People and digging uranium, when that happens, everyone associated with that company begins to take a slightly closer look. They suddenly think, I've heard something bad about this. Do we really need to loan them money. Could we really extend that line of credit to them.

Corporate life gets a whole lot harder up there when there is people down here causing trouble for the company. ERA's share price today of $1.83 is less than half of its yearly high of $4.50. It's about 40%. I think we've demonstrated that to you today, just by turning up. We'll be marching down to the stock exchange. Despite whatever problems that the Jabiluka campaign might have, they are nothing compared to the problems that North is going to have and corporate Australia is going to have. So long as they think that they can mine Uranium in a National Park, that they can dump toxic radioactive waste on Aboriginal Land. So long as they think that they can get away with that, we are going to keep protesting.

Chanting: Sell Norths, Sell Norths, Sell Norths, Sell Norths, Sell Norths, …

Speaker: Here we are at the wonderful stock exchange. Congratulations! It was a fantastic tour down there, most educational, most informative. $2.40. It's dropped 5 cents since the start of the rally. Well done, guys. Keep it going. In a few moments we are going to have a mock stock exchange action.
While people are getting that organised we going to have Chris who is going to have a few words with you.

Chris: I just wanted to announce that when we started the rally I spoke briefly to a woman who works at Westpac bank who came along in her lunch hour to attend the rally. She is actually a union rep there. What she was saying was that the bank has had so many inquiries from customers about why Westpac funds the mine, why Westpac supports the mine, that the bank has had to put out what she called a lie sheet about the bank's policy. Staff have to tell these lies that they don't support the mine, and so forth. What she had done with some other union reps is to go around the place encouraging staff not to take this policy, not to tell Westpac's lies. So I think it's fantastic that we have union support inside some of these evil organisations. The other thing I am going to do before we start the Stock Exchange Action, I am pleased to have here today amongst us, a comedian you might know, Rod Quantock, I'm going to put him on the spot here. He agreed beforehand to have a few words to you, so Rod if you would like to come up to the megaphone please do.

Rod Quantock: Well good afternoon and isn't it lovely to be at another rally against Jabiluka. I won't hold you up because there is some activity about to happen. I just would like to congratulate you all for being here. I did see a man in a suit joining us and I think that's… and thankyou for wearing a tie, that's terrific and having a hair cut. I think the more we look like them, the better chance we have of winning. Like all of you I followed the Jabiluka mine with interest. I follow the rallies with interest and there is a sense of optimism around. I like to congratulate you all. Hands up those who have been up to Jabiluka. Well, you are the heroes and collectively we are going to sack Mark Taylor as Australian of the Year and we are going to appoint you, en masse, as Australians of the Year. I thought about going but it's really, really hot up there and uncomfortable and there are no toilets and you can't get a cappuccino. I do my best in Melbourne where the weather suits me. So, good luck with the rest of the rally and the rest of the campaign and I'm a 100% confident that we will win and I have no basis for that but I am 100% confident. I hand you back to the adjudicator and enjoy the rest of the event.

Speaker: Just over the course of the last half hour I have become aware of a very important business opportunity. Now some people have been passing around some of this dirty money around the crowd and I like you to spend a bit of that dirty money on a major business opportunity opening up in Australia's North. We have 20 million tonnes of radioactive waste. We have a genocidal approach to Aboriginal affairs. We have Australia's biggest national park being trashed. And all of this can be yours for only $4.50. There have been a few protests, it's gone down to $4 now, sorry, the United Nations has come in, genocide doesn't seem to be so fashionable worldwide any more, so it's $3.50. $3.50 for a bit of genocide. Anyone want to pay $3.50 for a bit of genocide. How about 20 million tonnes of radioactive waste only $3 a share. Only $3 a share. How about $2.50 for just a little bit of genocide. Oh, you can't be so unreasonable. You just can't sell you anything. With an attitude like this how is a company like Whore's Ltd meant to make a profit when you people…

Chanting: Sell, Sell, Sell, Sell …

Linda Marks: And they were demonstrators at the JAG rally on Wednesday, joining in the street theatre, with Jerome Small adjudicating there, outside the Stock Exchange.

Ring up 3CR now and become a listener sponsor on 9419 8377

Eric, there is some news from the papers.

Eric Miller: Yes, two items on the Jabiluka uranium mine and the Gunjhedmi Association. Yvonne Margarula and three Aboriginal People were arrested on the Jabiluka lease on May 19th last year, their case came up on June 9th of last year and on September 1st they were fined $500 for trespass in the Darwin Magistrates Court. They have appealed to the NT Supreme Court against that ruling and that case is coming up on February 15th. So on Monday, Yvonne Margarula will be back in court saying she wasn't trespassing on her own land, on the Jabiluka lease and as Senior Traditional Owner she had a right to be there and protect her country with a political protest.

Also Gunjhedmi has another court case on in the Federal Court. They are going up against the Minister for the Environment, Senator Hill, and the Minister for Energy and Resources over the Jabiluka Mill Alternative and they are saying they couldn't pass the mill alternative for the Jabiluka project with the EIS as it was. They are saying that the ministers passed the EIS two days before the Federal election last year and it couldn't do this without a safe method of storing tailings at the Jabiluka site. That case is coming up on April 22nd.

Linda Marks: And of course the cases of the protesters who were arrested up at Jabiluka are continuing through February and March.

Eric Miller: Yes, right through until May. So there are cases going on all the time up in Darwin.

Linda Marks: Now it's time for some What's On;

The Walk Against Want is on the 21st March, and if you are interested in going in the walk or cycle or run or whatever you would like to do, get in contact with Community Aid Abroad.

Then we have 'Lake Eyre, Calling Arabunna People Home. Last week I read a little bit from the leaflet put out by Kevin Buzzacott, and people might have seen Kevin on the TV or heard him on the Radio talking about the tent embassy because he stayed at the tent embassy for quite some time. Now he is establishing a camp at Lake Eyre South. 'Calling Arabunna People Home' and he is inviting people to:

'Bring your tucker, bring your swag

on the shores of Lake Eyre.

And signs will be erected so you can find your way.

Stop the use of uranium in wars, stop the wars and make peace.

The time has come, this is the start.

Lake Eyre with its water ways and all the animals and the plants belong,

It's a very, very special place.

It catches all the ancient inland rivers and creeks.

All the other rivers from the other countries.

The old lake calms them down like nursing a little baby.

Water is life.

Water is more precious than gold.

The old lake wasn't designed and constructed and created for the purposes that it's now being used for.

It's hurting and it's calling.

If you feel strong in spirit to save the old lake, then be there.

We invite you to come with your strong spirit.

And that is the starting on the 26th March and I can attest to those words. Lake Eyre is a very special place.

On the 28th March if you can't go to Lake Eyre, is the Palm Sunday Rally. Meeting on the State Library steps at 1.30pm and marching down to North Ltd. There is going to be a blockade after that on the 29th March to the 1st April. A blockade of North Ltd.

Then we have a car cavalcade beginning on 11th April, from Lucas Heights. It is going to join Lucas Heights with Billa Kalina, the site for the proposed radioactive waste dump in South Australia, joining those two nuclear issues together.

A lot of things are happening in the next couple of months.

Eric Miller: So there's a lot of things happening and if you can get involved, get involved. And that's all we have time for the Radio Active Show this week, Linda, so it's goodbye from Eric.

Linda Marks: And it's goodbye from Linda.

Transcript produced by Linda Marks - with much thanks!!!
Page last updated April 2, 1999.
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