Australia eases access to vast arms test range

AUSTRALIA said yesterday that it had eased access restrictions on the world’s largest weapons test range in the remote outback — an area larger than England — to unlock what the government claims could be $35bn in untapped mineral resources.

Legislation for the change was unveiled in Canberra yesterday.

The Woomera Prohibited Area covers 127,000km2 of mostly barren desert and has been closed to the public since 1947, when it was used for Cold War rocket and nuclear tests by the UK, Australia and the US. The sprawling site, which is almost free from electronic signal interference, was also chosen this year as a test site for the joint UKFrench unmanned supersonic stealth drone Taranis, under development by BAE Systems.

Defence Minister Stephen Smith told MPs that new legislation would allow miners and some members of the public with reason to be there to share access to the land with the military, to better balance national security and economic concerns.

“The South Australian government has assessed that over the next decade about $35bn worth of iron ore, gold and other minerals resources are potentially exploitable from within the Woomera Prohibited Area,” Mr Smith said.

The change, under consideration for three years, is an attempt to ease investment concerns around land near Woomera since the government blocked Chinese company Minmetals from buying an Oz Minerals copper and gold mine at nearby Prominent Hill in 2009, citing national security.

Parts of Woomera, which hosted UK nuclear weapons tests from 1955-1963, abut the Olympic Dam site, which BHP Billiton decided not to expand last year as Australia’s mining boom stalled. A few mines exist in the area, including Prominent Hill and Kingsgate Consolidated’s Challenger gold mine.

The government of South Australia state has estimated the vast test site holds untapped gold, copper and uranium resources worth up to A$35bn, while other estimates for total mineral wealth run as high as A$1-trillion. Reuters