Wrath of the Green Ants

Four years ago, geologists for Queensland Mines Ltd. came across a tiny plot of ground in Australia's remote northern Nabarlek region that turned out to be the richest uranium deposit in the world. Assuming that mining rights could easily be obtained from the aboriginal owners, the Australian company quickly signed contracts to sell $60 million worth of ore to Japanese firms. What the mining executives failed to take into account was the aborigines' reluctance to disturb the green ants who live near the site.

The ore, buried just beneath the sere landscape in easily accessible formations, is less than 200 yds. from an area known in aboriginal religion as Gabo Djang (the Dreaming Place of the Green Ants). The aborigines believe that if the hallowed ground is desecrated, the insects giving the place its name will turn into man-eating monsters that will ravage the world.

Though it sounds like the plot from the science fiction flick Them, in which giant ants threaten mankind, the green-ant menace is serious to the aborigines.

The 1/2-in.-long insects are already more than a picnic annoyance: they abound in the area, living in trees and leaping out to bite intruders. More important, the ants at Gabo Djang are believed by the aborigines to be descendants of the godlike Great Green Ant. They revere the great ant as one of the spiritual beings who established all the patterns of human life and can still influence them for good or ill.

Remaining Poor. Queensland Mines officials have been trying to overcome the aborigines' fear of the ants' anger by offering them higher and higher sums for mining rights. The bids started with a "good-will" tender of $7,425 in 1971; they have since grown to a package including $891,000 in cash plus a 3.75% royalty, totaling $13,619,000. The company is willing to invest so much because the uranium deposit is conservatively valued at $300 million. In a plot only 755 ft. by 33 ft., there are more than 443,000 tons of uranium ore --roughly 1% of the world's known supply. The ore contains 47.4 lbs. of uranium per ton, more than twice the percentage found in U.S. sites.

The aborigines still refuse to sell.

Their case has been bolstered by an independent commission appointed by Prime Minister Gough Whitlam to study the land rights of Australia's indigenous population. The commission recommended this year that ownership of the land should be retained by the aborigines and that there should be no further exploration or mining without their permission. Confronted with the choice between poverty and the wrath of the green ants, the aborigines give every indication that, for the time being at least, they would rather remain poor.

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