Australia has banned a company controlled by "Rio Tinto" from exploiting uranium deposits in Aboriginal areas

Australia announced today that it is banning the exploitation of one of the largest uranium ore deposits in the world, citing the site's enduring connection with Australia's indigenous people - the Aborigines.

The site of Jabiluka (Jabiluka) in the north of Australia is surrounded by the Kakadu National Park, a tropical zone throughout which there are gorges and waterfalls and which is included in the world heritage of UNESCO, and which was shown in the first movie "Crocodile Dundee" (Crocodile Dundee).

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said that the area of ​​the national park will be expanded to the site of Jabiluk, which has never been exploited, in order to respect the wishes expressed decades ago by the Mirari Aboriginal people.

"They asked for a guarantee that there would never be uranium mining on their land," Albanese told activists of his Labor Party in Sydney.

This measure means that there will never be mining in Jabiluka, said the Prime Minister.

In 1917, near the location of Dzabiluk, archaeologists discovered axes and stone tools from several tens of thousands of years ago.

The discovery is evidence of the extraordinary and enduring connection the Torres Bay Aboriginal people had with the land, Albanese said.

He said that the Mirar people have loved and cherished their land for more than 60.000 years.

"This magnificent area of ​​Australia has some of the oldest cave art in the world," Albanese added.

The Dzabiluk site, discovered in the early 1970s, has been the subject of legal disputes by indigenous peoples and mining companies ever since.

According to the World Nuclear Association, it is one of the largest deposits with a high content of uranium in the world.

The company "Energy Resources of Australia" (ERA), controlled by the mining giant "Rio Tinto", has mining licenses for Jabiluka.

The preservation of indigenous sites has come under intense scrutiny in Australia since Rio Tinto dynamited the Jukan Gorge for iron ore mining, sparking a wave of protests.

The 46.000-year-old cave contained some of the oldest artefacts in the country and was considered sacred by Australia's indigenous peoples.

Australia's conservative opposition has pledged to build nuclear power plants if it wins the next election, defying a 26-year anti-nuclear policy.