ERA to cease Ranger uranium mine in N. Australia

Energy Resources Australia (ERA) has confirmed its controversial Ranger uranium mine in the Northern Territory will cease operations in 2021.

The Ranger, located in world heritage listed Kakadu National Park in Northern Australia, has been the subject of protests by anti-nuclear activists and environmental conservationists.

In an announcement to the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) on Thursday, ERA said it would forgo its Ranger 3 Deep expansion plans in light of the post Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident uranium market.

ERA major shareholder Rio Tinto welcomed the decision, saying it does not support any future development of the site. The expansion to underground mining required operations beyond its current operating license for satisfactory economic outcomes, which expires in 2021.

ERA said they will continue to process existing stockpiles and meet customer obligations.

The Australian Conservation Foundation's Dave Sweeney told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) that the announcement was "significant and positive."

"ERA has stopped the delusion and the dream, crunched the numbers, probably at Rio Tinto's insistence, and said this just does not stack up," Sweeney said.

"We have long maintained that the Ranger 3 Deeps project is poorly considered, risky and dangerous, and for ERA to now have finally and formally announced that it won't be advancing this project at this time is good news."

ERA and Rio Tinto have struck a deal regarding funding support for the rehabilitation of the controversial mine site.

In April, the Northern Territory Environment Centre said it had "major concerns" ERA would no longer be able to afford the full cost of the mine site rehabilitation, estimated at 512 million Australian dollars (396.5 million U.S. dollars), due to suffering substantial losses after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident. Endi