Peace activists and groups from across Far North Queensland converged on the Mount Carbine tungsten mine to remember the more than 15,000 Palestinian children killed by Israel in Gaza since October 2023.
Spokesperson Daniel Jones, from Mount Molloy, said the vigil on November 30 was intended to “create more awareness” about the origins of unethical products of war, such as 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.”
The action was organised in response to EQ Resources finalising a deal with the United States Department of Defense that would secure minerals “critical” to weapons manufacturing and war profits.
The deal relied on the US Defense Production Act (Title III) which classifies Queensland minerals as a “US domestic source”. This means the company can take access billions of dollars of funding from the US government for “critical sources” and for the US to be its exclusive customer.
Of particular concern is that tungsten from this mine has 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” or 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 Gaza.
The use of these mysterious organ-shredding cubes has been documented in reports by Amnesty International since 2009.
Dr Mohammed Tahir, an orthopaedic surgeon in Gaza, found on November 20 that one of these 3 millimetre tungsten shrapnel cubes had penetrated his patient’s body, causing permanent paralysis of his right arm.
These perfectly formed tungsten cubes are built into weapons that are “designed to explode and cause maximum damage indiscriminately,” said Tahir. “Something so small can, in fact, kill you.”
“In this case, it was millimetres from his main artery and, if the patient had not received immediate medical attention, he would have died.”
Tahir said the use of these weapons today is a “war crime”.
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While studying dentistry near Jerusalem in a non-combat zone, Australian citizen Ranem Abu Izneid's dormitory was attacked on November 15 by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Dr Ameriah Fakhouri, from the Palestinian Australian and New Zealand Medical Association (PANZMA), described the use of “a type of exploding bullet”.
Shrapnel lodged in Abu Izneid’s face, neck and chest, causing loss of 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 vigil organiser Daniel Jones.
Jones said cases like these, with the continued atrocities committed by Israel, murdering civilian Palestinians and Lebanese using US-supplied weapons with mineral components like Mt Carbine tungsten, mined on Aboriginal land, motivated people to converge for the vigil.
Activist Geoff Holland said Labor 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 Defense,” Holland said.
He said Labor must acknowledge that “much of this tungsten is causing, and will continue to cause, horrific injuries and agonising death to civilians in Gaza including children”. These must 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 Opposition Leader Peter Dutton have already been referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for individual criminal responsibility in aiding and abetting the commission of genocide, and the referral, by a team of Australian lawyers led by King’s Counsel Sheryn Omeri, has been accepted for consideration.
The 92-page document has been endorsed by Greg James AM KC, along with more than 100 senior counsel and barristers, retired judges, law professors and academics.
Outside the Mt Carbine tungsten mine, 25 people held up banners across the road from the mine gate at EQ Resources that read: “World peace — Ceasefire now”, “Tungsten source of Israeli war crimes – American war profits — warheads, tanks, shrapnel cubes”, “Free Gaza — does profiting from war encourage more war?” and “Stop arming Israel’s genocide”.
As they remembered the tens of thousands of innocent Palestinians killed by Israel in Gaza, they sat in silence for 15 minutes mourning the more than 15,000 children killed by the IDF over the past 14 months.
The protesters understand that the mine provides jobs, but ethical tungsten products do exist, including those used in medical, renewable technologies and aerospace industries.
Jones emphasised that using Mt Carbine’s tungsten for military applications “is fundamentally wrong”.
“It directly benefits America’s military-industrial complex which is enabling Israel’s war crimes, which has implications for Australia.”
[Alan Isherwood is an activist in Free Palestine Tablelands.]