Aborigines win struggle to close mine

The Aboriginal owners of land around one of the world's largest uranium mines accepted an offer yesterday by the Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto to halt the project, and said they hoped the company was serious about shutting the mine and cleaning up the site.

The Jabiluka mine is about 143 miles east of the Northern Territory's capital, Darwin. Although a Rio Tinto subsidiary has held a lease for the mine for 20 years, it has never extracted any uranium because of stiff opposition from the Aboriginal Mirrar people and conservationists.

Sir Robert Wilson, Rio Tinto's chairman, pledged last week that mining would not proceed without the consent of the Mirrar, who said yesterday they wanted the mine closed.