DEPARTMENT OF

TRADE AND RESOURCES

RANGER AGREEMENT SIGNED

(Statement by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for  Trade and Resources, the Rt. Hon. J.D. Anthony, M.P.)

The Commonwealth Government has reached agreement with

Peko Wallsend Operations Ltd., the Electrolytic Zinc Company

of Australasia Limited and the Atomic Energy Commission, as  Joint Venturers, on the terms and conditions under which the  Ranger Uranium deposits will be developed.

The agreement between the Government and the Joint Venturers  was executed today.

This signals an important step forward for the industry and  the economy generally.

I am particularly pleased to announce that the way is now clear

for mining to proceed at Ranger.

Agreement between the Commonwealth and the Northern Land Council

in November was an important major step and it is particularly

gratifying to see that the Government and the companies were able  to reach agreement on a great range of very complicated issues  so readily after the NLC Agreement.

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Following the execution of the agreement I have issued an  authority under section 41 of the Atomic Energy Act for the

development of the Ranger deposits.

A management agreement between the three Joint- Venturers and  Ranger Uranium Mines Pty. Ltd. (RUM) has also been executed.

Under that agreement RUM will be responsible to the Joint  Venturers for the actual mining and related operations on the'  Ranger Project A'rea. 1  .

The Ranger deposits are estimated to contain about 100,000  tonnes of uranium. 1

Development of the mine, mill and treatment facilities is

expected to take approximately three years before production  commences.

The plant will be designed to produce 3,000 tonnes of uranium

oxide in concentrates annually when in full production.

The development will provide a welcome boost to employment,   particularly in the Northern Territory.

The section 41 authority issued today authorises mining  operations to take place over a 21-year period.

The authority provides for a five-year period during which the  area will be rehabilitated after mining ceases.

The agreement signed today contains provisions for the

establishment of a trust fund which will be managed by the  Government and to which the companies will contribute to meet  their shares of necessary rehabilitation work when mining ceases.

By this means an important recommendation in the report of the  Ranger Uranium Environmental Inquiry will be implemented.

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The section 41 authority incorporates comprehensive

environmental requirements as agreed with the Northern Land

Council following the recommendations of the Ranger Uranium

Environmental Inquiry.

The agreement also contains provisions requiring the Joint

Venturers to take up-commitments made to the Northern Land

Council by the Government in respect of operations on the  Ranger Project Area.

I expect to table the agreement in Parliament early in the

autumn sittings.

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CANBERRA ACT 79/3

9 January 1979

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