ERA Says No Contamination Risk At Uranium Mine

Energy Resources of Australia Ltd. (ERA.AU) has given its assurance that there's no risk of contaminated water spilling from a uranium mine into Australia's pristine Kakadu National Park following months of heavy rainfall.

The miner said Monday that although it may have to pump water from the tailing dam at its Ranger uranium mine into the main pit to prevent overflow, there's no risk of contamination to the surrounding environment.

Ranger borders Kakadu and its world heritage-listed wetlands.

"We're confident that our ultimate contingency plan to pump water out of the tailing dam and into Pit Three is a sound strategy and there is no risk of overflow," an ERA spokeswoman said. There is no need to enact the contingency plant at present, she added.

Water levels in the tailing dam are about 10-20 centimeters below their 53 meter height limit.

The spokeswoman said that Pit Three, although filled with about 90 meters of water, is around 200 meters deep and there's no concern at all of contaminated water leaking out.

ERA, which is majority owned by Rio Tinto (RIO), said last Tuesday that a suspension of processing plant operations at Ranger would be extended until late July to allow water levels to fall.

Since then, Bureau of Meteorology records show that there hasn't been much rainfall at the nearby town of Jabiru, with only 8.0 millimeters falling last Thursday and close to nothing on other days.

There was about three weeks left of the official wet season, ERA said last Tuesday.

Ranger has this year recorded its third-highest wet season on record. Its three worst wet seasons have all occurred within the last five years.

ERA is among Australian miners with operations that have been severely hampered by heavy rainfall caused by a La Nina weather pattern, which can cause more rain in Australia and drought in South America.

At 0210 GMT, ERA shares were down 3.3% at A$6.12.

-By Ross Kelly, Dow Jones Newswires; 61-2-8272-4692; [e-mail]