Glob 2: Tungsten
Media release written by Daniel Jones
World peace vigil converges on Mt Carbine tungsten mine over US Department of Defence deal linked to Israeli war crimes.
Monday 2nd of December 2024
On Saturday the 30th of November peace activists and groups from across Far North Queensland 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 is 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 mine1. The deal was done using the ‘US Defence Production Act (Title III)’ classifying Queensland minerals as a ‘US Domestic Source’. This enables the company to take advantage of grants and funding streams from the US government amounting to billions of dollars nationally that would expand this mine, and other ‘critical sources’, over the next decade with the US as the exclusive customer and war profiteer under the guise of world security 2.
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’3- in other words, shrapnel weapons. Elmet Technologies is a partner company of Israeli military sensor manufacturer Amironic, demonstrating a direct production line of the tungsten weapons used in Gaza4.
The use of these mysterious organ-shredding cubes is documented in reports by Amnesty International as far back as 2009. On the 20th of November 2024, 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 as he went on to say ‘in this case it was millimetres from his main artery and if the patient had not received immediate medical attention he would have died as is the case for many people and many reports of the use of these weapons still in use today is a war crime in my opinion’5.
In another recent case, on the 15th of November 2024, Australian citizen Ranem Abu Izneid studying dentistry near Jerusalem in a non-combat zone, had her dormitory attacked by the Israeli Occupational Forces using what Dr Ameriah Fakhouri from the Palestinian Australian and New Zealand Medical Association (PANZMA) described as ‘a type of exploding bullet’6. These bullets caused shrapnel to lodge in Ranem’s face, neck and chest causing her to lose her right eye. ‘The investigation into this incident may find the shrapnel still lodged in Ranem’s face contains tungsten, as found in similar cases’ said peace vigil organiser Daniel Jones.
Cases like these with the continued atrocities committed by Israel, murdering civilian Palestinians and Lebanese using American supplied weapons with mineral components like Mt Carbine tungsten, mined on Aboriginal land, motivated people to converge for this vigil Jones explained.
Peace activist Geoff Holland who attended the rally and vigil said that 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’ 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 continued.
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.
Outside the tungsten mine in Mt Carbine a group of around 25 people held up banners with clear messages across road of the mine gate at EQ Resources that read: ‘World Peace - Ceasefire Now’ and ‘Tungsten source of Israeli war crimes - American war profits – warheads, tanks, shrapnel cubes’ and ‘Free Gaza - does profiting from war encourage more war?’ and ‘Stop arming Israel’s genocide’.
Demonstrators proceeded to sit on the ground paying respect and remembering the tens of thousands of innocent Palestinians killed in Gaza by the Israeli military, with many still under the rubble. The demonstrators sat in silence for 15 minutes mourning the more than 15,000 children killed by the Israeli Occupational Force (IOF) over the past 14 months in Gaza.
It is understood by rally participants that the mine provides local job opportunities and that ethical tungsten products do exist such as those used in medical, renewable technologies and aerospace industries. However, organiser Daniel Jones emphasised that the current use of tungsten from Mt Carbine involves military applications and horrific injuries to civilians. “This is fundamentally wrong’ said Jones, ‘it also directly benefits America’s military-industrial complex which is enabling Israel’s war crimes which has implications for Australia’.
Media contact: Daniel Jones, Mount Molloy business owner 0472 515 962
Media contact: Geoff Holland, Free Palestine Far North Queensland 0499 658 764
Media contact: Alan Isherwood, Free Palestine Tablelands 0493 539 550
References:
1 Holmes, Robyn. The Express News Paper, 11th of September 2024: Mt Carbine tungsten critical to world security. Accessed 2nd of December 2024, https://www.theexpressnewspaper.com.au/mt-carbine tungsten-deal-critical-to-world-security-2024-09-11
2 US Defence Production Act (Title III), Australia’s Jul7 18 proclamation to enact Defence Trade Controls Amendment Act commencing 1st of September 2024. ‘Billions of dollars in secure license-free defence trade between partner countries without further authorisation’. U.S Department of Defence. Release: Joint Statement on Australia- U.S Ministerial Consultations (AUSMIN) 2024, 6th of August 2024. Securing our Technological Edge , accessed 2nd December 2024,
https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/article/3863759/joint-statement-on-australia-us ministerial-consultations-ausmin-2024/
3 Elmet Technologies-products-tungsten cubes -fragmentation applications. Accessed 2nd of December 2024, https://www.elmettechnologies.com/tungsten/cubes/
4 Amironic Israeli company partner of Elmet technologies. Accessed 2nd of December 2024, https://amironic.co.il/companies/elmet-technologies/
5 R Powell, Great Reporter, 23rd of November 2024, London Medic Details Shocking Injuries in Gaza From Indiscriminate Explosive Tungsten Weapons, Accessed 2nd of December 2024,
https://greatreporter.com/2024/11/23/london-medic-details-shocking-injuries-in-gaza-from-israels indiscriminate-explosive-tungsten-weapons/
6 Bahr, Jessica and Yosufzai, Rashinda, SBS News Australia, 24th of November 2024, Australian injured in alleged Israeli shooting speaks from hospital: ‘I demand an investigation’. Accessed 2nd of December 2024, https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/australian-injured-in-alleged-israel-military-shooting speaks-from-hospital/stjsbkrb7
