The Wellington Range in the northeastern state of Queensland hasbeen under surveillance from uranium mining companies for manyyears. Cameco, a Canadian mining company, recently reported thediscovery of a large uranium deposit in this range, according to aGlobal Mail report.
However, this region is also home to an area dubbed one of thegreat rock-art precincts of the globe by United NationsEducational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), andregular guided tours are organized to the areas.
The secret wall paintings display ancient aboriginal scenes andsymbols, such as “bullymen” – police-type troopers, thepaintings of which were thought to be able to vanquish enemiesthrough sorcery. Other pictures are more nature-related.
The aboriginal paintings are thought to be thousands of yearsold, with the earliest discovered dating more than 10,000 yearsback.
Despite the fact that much of the rock art is contained in‘Designated Landscape Areas’, which means the site ofaboriginal heritage is entry is limited to some, state permissionfor mineral exploration has still been granted.
On Friday, the Global Mail published a report drawing onsix-month-long research by Noelene Cole, an assistant researchfellow in archaeology with James Cook University, and associatearchaeologist Alice Buhrich. Their research discovered thatapplications for coal and mineral exploration cover what isbasically an entire art-covered ‘precinct’ on the Cape YorkPeninsula.
“It is astounding, internationally speaking, that a regionlike this would be considered for mining,” said Cole.
Cameco located the deposit in remote northern hills thatcontained so much of the art, that one mere complex contained amassive 3,000 images. The oldest piece of art here was dated asbeing approximately 15,000 years old.
“It would be like the French mining the Lascaux Caves and theDordogne, which is World Heritage listed,” Tony Burke,Australia’s environment minister said.
His office went on to point out that although Cameco has not yetsubmitted a proposal for a uranium project in the Wellingtonregion, because it is such a sizeable discovery, it is likely thecompany will pursue it further.
Cameco Australia's managing director, Brian Reilly, has saidthat his company would work alongside stakeholders to ensure theprotection of the area's environment, culture and heritage,strongly suggesting that further exploration is on thecards.
Australian mining magnate and billionaire Gina Rinehart, theworld’s second-richest woman, began to create a stir in the lastweek, when it emerged that she had also sought permission to lookfor minerals over some of the countries older art on Cape York.
At the time, traditional aboriginal owners asked Australia’sFederal Environment Minister, Tony Burke, to place the area on theWorld Heritage List to protect the site of their ancestors’ art.One of Rinehart’s companies later announced that it would withdrawtwo applications to excavate for minerals.
Cole and Buhrich found that the Queensland Government hasalready granted some mineral and coal exploration permits in areasmeant to be protected as special Aboriginal places, according tothe Global Mail.
Australia is home to around a third of the planet’s uraniumresources and exports roughly 7,000 tonnes per annum.
