Weapons-Testing Site in Australian Outback Now Open to Mining

By Rob Taylor 

CANBERRA, Australia--The world's largest weapons test range in the remote Australian outback will be opened to mining after the country's parliament agreed Thursday to laws easing access to an area larger than the U.S. state of Ohio.

The Woomera Prohibited Area in the country's arid center stretches more than 49,000 square miles and contains an estimated $35 billion of mineral resources.

Some areas, so-called "red zones," will be retained solely for defense use. Other zones, yet to be defined, will allow access to mine workers, tourists and others during specified times of the year.

Woomera has been inaccessible to the public since 1947, when Australia and its U.S. and U.K. allies used the range for Cold War rocket and nuclear tests. Last year, British defense scientists used the range in South Australia state to test BAE Systems PLC's Taranis unmanned stealth drone, which is being developed to carry bombs and missiles while traveling at supersonic speed, undetected by radar.

Australia's conservative government has agreed to allow miners to explore for iron ore, uranium and gold deposits thought to lie within Woomera's boundaries, as the country seeks to encourage more mining investment and reinvigorate its economy.

"The legislation will improve the management of the Woomera Prohibited Area in a way that will meet defense-testing requirements while also giving greater certainty of access for other sectors, particularly the resources sector, to invest in operations," a spokesman for Australia's Defense Minister, David Johnston, told The Wall Street Journal.

Mining-industry representatives weren't immediately available for comment. The chief executive of the South Australia Chamber of Mines and Energy, Jason Kuchel, previously has said that unexploited resources buried in the area could exceed expectations and top 1 trillion Australian dollars in value.

Major mines already in the area include the Challenger gold mine operated by Kingsgate Consolidated Ltd., Arrium Mining's Peculiar Knob iron ore mine and OZ Minerals Ltd.'s Prominent Hill mine.

In 2009, the Labor government blocked China Minmetals Non-Ferrous Metals Co. Ltd. from buying an Oz Minerals Ltd. copper and gold mine in nearby Prominent Hill because of security fears.

"The new framework maintains the primacy of the Woomera Prohibited Area as a national-security and defense asset and sets up a coexistence scheme that allows access by nondefense users subject to conditions," the spokesman said.

Civilians entering the area will have to apply with defense officials for a permit when weapons testing isn't under way. Such applications will assess possible security risks of entrants.

Still, the luster of mineral resources trapped within Woomera's borders offsets the complication of restricted access. Miners would be excluded from areas outside red zones only for periods between 14 and 70 days, and weapons testing would take place under timeshare arrangements with the military.

The government also plans to open to tourists parts of Woomera that hosted British nuclear weapons tests between 1955 and 1963. It has agreed to excise these rehabilitated nuclear test sites--known as Section 400--from the area at the request of the local indigenous Maralinga Tjarutja people, who hope to run tours.

The Woomera range is prized by weapons developers because of its relative freedom from electronic-signals interference, large size and extremely remote location, making it almost impossible to observe military activity there. Weapons ranges of similar size in northern Australia are used by thousands of U.S. Marines and Australian soldiers each year for several months in a defense-training arrangement that is being expanded to include U.S. ships and aircraft.

Write to Rob Taylor at [e-mail]

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