Editing Kakadu National Park (section)

===Mining===
{{further|Uranium mining in Kakadu National Park}}
[[File:Ranger Uranium Mine in Kakadu National Park.jpeg|thumb|right|The [[Ranger Uranium Mine]]]]
The first mineral discoveries in the Top End were associated with the construction of the [[Overland Telegraph]] line between 1870 and 1872, in the [[Pine Creek, Northern Territory|Pine Creek]] – [[Adelaide River]] area. A series of short mining booms followed. The construction of the [[North Australia Railway]] line (1889–1976) gave more permanency to the [[mining]] camps, and places such as Burrundie and [[Pine Creek, Northern Territory|Pine Creek]] became permanent settlements. Small-scale [[gold]] mining began at Imarlkba, near [[Barramundi Creek]], and Mundogie Hill in the 1920s and at Moline (previously called Eureka and Northern Hercules mine), south of the park, in the 1930s. The mines employed a few local Aboriginal people.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ellwood |first1=Galiina (Kal) |last2=Wegner |first2=Janice |date=October 2019 |title=Shared history forgotten: the neglected stories of Aboriginal miners, prospectors and ancillary workers in the north Queensland mining industry . |url=https://www.mininghistory.asn.au/wp-content/uploads/1.-Ellwood-Wegner-compressed-1.pdf |journal=Journal of Australasian Mining History |volume=17 |pages=1–19}}</ref>

In 1953, [[uranium]] was discovered along the headwaters of the [[South Alligator River]] valley. Thirteen small but rich uranium mines operated in the following decade, at their peak in 1957 employing over 150 workers. Early in the 1970s large uranium deposits were discovered at Ranger, [[Jabiluka]] and [[Koongarra]]. Following receipt of a formal proposal to develop the Ranger site, the [[Commonwealth Government]] initiated an inquiry into land use in the Alligator Rivers region. The Ranger Uranium Environmental Inquiry (known as the [[Russell Walter Fox|Fox inquiry]]) recommended, among other things, that mining begin at the [[Ranger Uranium Mine|Ranger]] site, that consideration be given to the future development of the Jabiluka and Koongarra sites, and that a service town be built.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Australian Government Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water |title=Ranger Uranium Environmental Inquiry final report 1977 |url=https://www.dcceew.gov.au/science-research/supervising-scientist/publications/ranger-uranium-environmental-inquiry-report-final |access-date=12 April 2025 |website=}}</ref>

Gold mining was proposed in the late 1980s at [[Coronation Hill]] (Guratba).<ref>{{cite web |last1=Allam |first1=Lorena |title=No ordinary piece of bush: the high price of Coronation Hill |date=4 April 2010 |url=https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/hindsight/no-ordinary-piece-of-bush-the-high-price-of/3112040  |publisher=ABC |access-date=4 Nov 2023}}</ref> This site had initially been excluded from the park but was added as part of stage 3. Its mining was blocked following environmental and social campaigns. Despite internal disagreement the then Prime Minister, [[Bob Hawke]], vetoed mining in a Cabinet Meeting<ref>{{cite news |last1=Chan |first1=Gabrielle |title=Cabinet papers 1990-91: Hawke's fight to keep mining out of Kakadu helped unseat him |newspaper=The Guardian |date=31 December 2015 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/jan/01/cabinet-papers-1990-91-hawkes-fight-to-keep-mining-out-of-kakadu-helped-unseat-him |publisher=Guardian News & Media Limited |access-date=4 Nov 2023}}</ref> in May 1991.

In the mid 1990s a similar debate over additional uranium mining at [[Jabiluka]]<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hamilton |first1=Clive |title=Mining in Kakadu: Lessons from Coronation Hill |journal=Parliamentary Library 'Vital Issues' Seminar Series Parliament House |date=19 July 1996 |volume=Discussion Paper Number 9 |issue=9 |pages=1–18 |url=https://australiainstitute.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/DP9_8.pdf |access-date=4 Nov 2023}}</ref> was prevented by a campaign and blockade initiated by the Gundjeihmi Aboriginal Corporation.<ref>{{cite web |last= |first= |date=2019-03-28 |title=Jabiluka Fight for Country |url=https://commonslibrary.org/jabiluka-fight-for-country/ |access-date=2023-07-07 |website=The Commons Social Change Library |language=en-AU}}</ref>
The Ranger uranium mine closed in 2021.<ref>{{cite web |last=Blair |first=Kirsten |date=2020-03-10 |title=The Jabiluka Blockade – 22 years on |url=https://commonslibrary.org/the-jabiluka-blockade-22-years-on/ |access-date=2023-07-07 |website=The Commons Social Change Library |language=en-AU}}</ref>