South Australia Bill introduced to protect Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary from uranium mining Greens Upper House member Mark Parnell has introduced a Bill into State Parliament to say sanctuaries should be protected from mining, the same way National Parks are protected from mining. Marathon Resources Ltd's Mount Gee uranium mine project is located right in the centre of the Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary. (ABC Oct. 24, 2007) Australia's Northern Territories Koongarra area Jeffrey Lee, sole member of the Djok clan and senior custodian of the Koongarra uranium deposit, has decided never to allow the ecologically sensitive land to be mined. He rather wants to see the land that is surrounded by the Kakadu National Park to become incorporated into the park. "There are sacred sites, there are burial sites and there are other special places out there which are my responsibility to look after," Mr Lee told The Age. Under the Aboriginal Land Rights Act (Northern Territory), Areva must get Mr Lee's approval at a meeting called by the Northern Land Council before it can start extracting the uranium. In August 2005, the Government seized control of uranium mining from the Northern Territory, declaring the territory open for new mines. But the Howard Government has always maintained that no new mine would be approved in the territory unless it had the approval of traditional owners. The Government has told UNESCO, the world body under which Kakadu is listed as a heritage site, that it would agree in principle for Koongarra to be incorporated into the park if the traditional owners requested it. (The Age July 14, 2007) Western Australia Aboriginal group to seek stakes in Western Australia uranium projects An Australian Aboriginal group hired a commercial adviser at investment bank Carnegie, Wylie & Co. to negotiate stakes in potential uranium mining projects in Western Australia, including Rio Tinto Group's Kintyre venture. Joe Procter at Sydney-based Carnegie Wylie will hold talks on behalf of the Martu aboriginal people to secure royalties and free equity stakes in projects, Clinton Wolf, chief executive officer of Western Desert Land Aboriginal Corp., a group representing the Martu, said today. The aim is to help eradicate poverty among the Martu people, he said. The Martu people have rights over 136,000 square kilometers of land in Western Australia, covering exploration ventures operated by Canada's Cameco Corp. and Mega Uranium Ltd. Their average wage is about A$9,000 ($7,963) a year and life expectancy is about 20 years shorter than for non-aboriginal Australians, Wolf said. (Bloomberg July 25, 2007)