Uranium mining in the far north of South Australia at the Beverley location near Arkaroola Wilderness Resort is being openly challenged by Aboriginal Traditional Owner Mrs Enice Marsh.

She is concerned that the new Beverly Four Mile uranium mine is destroying sacred sites, polluting the environment unnecessarily, and promoting a culture of bullying.

“If mining continues to expand it will be a total disaster all round: what will happen to the land, the water, the bush tucker and the animals?” she said.

“There’s no independent monitoring up there, Mrs Marsh said and “the mine only has a life expectancy of eight to ten years but would leave a legacy of damage for generations to come”

Mrs Marsh feels it is her duty as an Adnyamathanha Traditional Owner to speak out publicly about the destruction of culturally significant sites that she has witnessed first hand and about the risks of uranium mining.

“A lot of people are intimidated, frightened and confused about what is happening.

“Native Title has failed to protect our sites and the governing body that should be representing the interests of the whole community is failing in its duty of care.

“This mine offer no career path for Aboriginal workers, just unskilled labour in the short term and local people living in the area will be left with the mess forever,” she said. Mrs Marsh said community consultation is a joke.

“The use of technical and legal language is hard to understand especially for older people, and the mining company actively encourages disrespect toward women during cultural site inspections”

Mrs Marsh’s daughter, Jillian Marsh, has been doing a case study research of the Beverley Uranium Mine to explore the ‘impact assessment’ and ‘decision-making’ processes used when the mine was first approved by government.

The literature she has looked at about the method of mining shows that in-situ leach mining pollutes the underground water tables and sloppy environmental regulations by government these mining companies are able to operate at a very low standard.