NEWSPORT NEWSFEED: World peace rally at Mt Carbine tungsten mine

Peace activists and groups from across Far North Queensland on Saturday, November 30, converged on the Mt Carbine tungsten mine for a non-violent direct action and 15-minute silent peace vigil remembering the more than 15,000 Palestinian children killed by Israel in Gaza since October 2023.

A spokesperson for the group, Daniel Jones from Mount Molloy, said “Our action is intended to create more awareness in the local community and around the world about the origins of unethical products of war like the tungsten exported from Mt Carbine.

“These products end up in the bodies of innocent civilians including children, and are used for maximum destruction of people’s bodies, homes and infrastructure in war crime atrocities such as those committed by Israel in Gaza with the help of America and its allies including the UK, Germany and Australia.”

The peace vigil was in response to the mine owner EQ Resources finalising a deal with the US Department of Defence in August 2024 that would secure these minerals ‘critical’ to weapons manufacturing and war profits for the life of the mine.

Of particular concern to the activists was uncovering the fact that tungsten from this mine has very likely been used by Israel to commit war crimes in Gaza. The wolfram ore concentrate from Mt Carbine is sent to US tungsten fabricator Elmet Technologies where it is turned into warhead parts, tank parts and tiny tungsten cubes. The company clearly describes these custom-made cube products for ‘fragmentation applications’ - in other words, shrapnel weapons.

On November 20, Dr Mohammed Tahir, an orthopaedic surgeon in Gaza, found one of these 3mm tungsten shrapnel cubes that had penetrated his patient’s body causing permanent paralysis of his right arm.

“These cubes that are used, perfectly formed cubes made of tungsten are built into weapons that actually are designed to explode and cause maximum damage indiscriminately, and so something so small can in fact kill you,” said Dr Tahir.

Peace activist Geoff Holland who attended the rally said the Australian government is being disingenuous about its role in supporting Israel.

“‘The Australian government says on the one hand it has not exported weapons or weapons parts to Israel for five years but on the other hand it recently conducted a review of weapons and weapons parts still being exported to Israel following a similar recent internal review by the British government! It is unlikely the government is including the tungsten from Mt Carbine in its review, which is now under the exclusive control of the US Department of Defence’, Mr Holland said.

“‘The Australian Federal government must now acknowledge that much of this tungsten is causing, and will continue to cause, horrific injuries and agonising death to civilians in Gaza including children, and that these must also be added to the long list of war crimes committed by Israel with complicity by Australia.

Holland noted that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Foreign Minister Penny Wong and leader of the Opposition, Peter Dutton, have already been referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC) by a team of Australian lawyers led by King’s Counsel Sheryn Omeri for individual criminal responsibility in aiding and abetting the commission of genocide, and that this referral has been accepted by the ICC for consideration. The 92-page document has been endorsed by Greg James AM KC, along with more than 100 Australian senior counsel and barristers, retired judges, law professors and academics.

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