The Greening of mining: our place in the 21st century
Media Release | Spokesperson Scott Ludlam
Thursday 19th August 2010, 3:51pm
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Australian Greens Senator Scott Ludlam is in Kalgoorlie to present a paper at the AusIMM Sustainable Mining conference which will focus on the place of mining in a sustainable economy.
“Against a backdrop of climate change and the age of peak oil, we need to have a hard look at how resilient our mining communities are, the continuing dispossession of Aboriginal people, and the place of mining in the transition to a zero carbon economy,” Senator Ludlam said.
“If we are going to build wind, wave and solar energy farms, extend rail networks and drive electric cars, we are going to need metals such as steel, copper, nickel, aluminium and lithium, silica for solar photovoltaic panels, and metals such as gallium and indium used in modern electronics.
“We will need to get a lot better at conserving and recycling key resources, rather than assuming the country is a limitless source of raw materials.”
Greens Candidate for O’Connor, Andrew Huntley, a Goldfields mining industry worker for the past 10 years, has extensive experience in power generation, transmission and distribution, including renewable energy. Mr. Huntley is strongly supportive of the mining industry, but completely opposes uranium mining.
“The Australian Greens are calling for a massive investment in renewable energy infrastructure and jobs across Australia, including developing the massive potential for solar power, wind and wave energy, here in the Goldfields-Esperance region,” Mr Huntley said.
“Just one of the 111 wind turbines that are soon going to be built near Merredin, as part of the Collgar Wind Farm, requires more than 200 tonnes of steel. The materials can and will be recycled at the end of the Turbine’s design life, but the scale of the renewable energy and sustainability infrastructure ramp-up that we need, in Australia and worldwide, means there is going to be ongoing strong demand for steel and other metals.”
One mining industry that could never be sustainable, though, was uranium mining.
“Uranium mining pollutes the local landscape and groundwater for tens of thousands of years, endangers workers’ lives and the health of communities along transport routes, and supports the least sustainable industry in the world – the twin nuclear power and weapons industries,” Senator Ludlam said.
Following an address to the AusIMM Sustainable Mining conference in Kalgoorlie this morning (SUBS – Thurs 19 August) on the topic ‘What will this place look like in 2050?’, Greens Senator for WA, Scott Ludlam, will also address a community rally against uranium mining, starting at midday in St Barbara’s Square.
For more information or media enquiries, please call Fernando de Freitas on 0417 174 302 or Andrew Huntley on 0400 012 644
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