Former Rio Tinto Executive for Uranium Mine Leadership Environmentalists’ Criticize and Concern A former Rio Tinto senior executive who stepped down following the devastation of Juukan Gorge has been named to the proposed leadership team that would oversee the development of a contentious uranium mine in Western Australia.
C
hris Salisbury, the former Rio Tinto iron ore boss, was one of three senior executives to resign after the destruction of the 46,000-year-old sacred site on his watch. In May 2021, Mr. Salisbury was named the uranium exploration company Deep Yellow chair. He was recently named the proposed chair of a $658 million merger between the company and Vimy Resources. Vimy is developing WA's first uranium mine in the Goldfields region, 240 kilometers northeast of Kalgoorlie-Boulder. Vimy's board has agreed to a beefed-up plan and will take the merger to shareholders in June after rejecting a $317 million offer from rival Deep Yellow, which is developing a uranium mine in Namibia. The merger is expected to provide the necessary financial backing to complete the Mulga Rock uranium project.
Uranium mining is prohibited in Western Australia following the reinstatement of a prohibition by the current Labor government in 2017.
Limited or its associates, he noted governance difficulties with projects in Malawi and Namibia.
However, the old Liberal-National government awarded environmental approval to the Mulga Rock mine, as well as three other projects, prior to the prohibition, which Labor claimed it would accept.
One worker lost his life, and two others got injured at a mine in Malawi in 2013, another worker died, and two others were hurt in a mine in Namibia in 2013. A vehicle transporting uranium oxide from a Malawi mine toppled in 2014, releasing some of the substance.
Mulga Rock is the sole project that is progressing. The deal would not stymie Mulga Rock's progress, according to Vimy Resources managing director Steven Michael, who claimed the business plans to start production in 2025.
Mr. Sweeney was also concerned about Mr. Salisbury's appointment as chairman because of his involvement in the devastation of Juukan Gorge.
CONCERNS ABOUT LEADERSHIP
Deep Yellow's managing director, John Borshoff, is the proposed chief executive of the amalgamated business, according to Australian Conservation Foundation nuclear policy specialist Dave Sweeney. When Mr. Borshoff was a senior executive with mining business Paladin Energy
"Neither of those, we believe, are a basis for confidence or leadership of a corporation suited for purpose in a high-risk industrial area like uranium mining," he said. Mr. Michael, on the other hand, claimed the Deep Yellow duo provided "great value to the amalgamated group" because of their combined uranium experience. www.skillings.net | 43
