The northern Flinders Ranges had been inhabited by the
Adnyamathanha people for at least 49,000 years before European surveyors and settlers came to the area. Mount Painter was named by Surveyor General of South Australia
George Goyder (1826-1898), after the surveyor J.M. Painter, who was responsible for the
trigonometric survey in 1857. Mount Gee was named after Lionel Carley Egremont Gee, who held various government positions, including as a general assistant and recorder at the South Australian Department of Mines. He wrote and compiled a number of government publications and books, including co-authoring
Record of The Mines of South Australia, 4th ed. (1908), which used the notes from the inspections made by the Government Geologist,
H.Y.L. Brown. Gee was also a
justice of the peace. Mineral exploration in the region began in the 1860s with the discovery of
copper at a number of sites in the region, including the
Yudnamutana copper field and the Lady Buxton mine, and numerous small diggings throughout the Mount Painter area. In 1906
W. B. Greenwood discovered
corundum in a creek, later named Corundum Creek, west of Mount Painter. In 1981 the Corundum Mine was placed on the register of geological monuments by the South Australian division of the
Geological Society of Australia, owing to "its scientifically interesting
mineral assemblage". Sir
Douglas Mawson, a geology lecturer at the
University of Adelaide, from what is now called Radium Ridge. Greenwood had previously sent samples to the government in 1899, a year after radium had been discovered by
Marie and
Pierre Curie in France. However, government geologist
Henry Y. L. Brown was away on stress leave when the specimens arrived, and they subsequently went missing. After Greenwood sent more samples in 1910, Brown was dismissive of their value, but Mawson, having recently visited Marie Curie in
Paris, who had urged him to look for radium, thought the samples were worth analysis. He used two gold-leaf
electroscopes given to him by Curie to do so. Mawson visited the area and wrote a report which was published in newspapers in late November 1910, which included a description of the geology of the area. The 1910 discovery led to extraction of
radium by the Radium Extraction Company of South Australia Ltd (RECSAL), which was incorporated on 28 November 1910. Both Mawson and Greenwood invested in the company, which was opened in 1911. At least two other mining companies were formed shortly after RECSAL: Mount Painter Propriety Company Limited, and Mount Painter East Prospecting Syndicate. W. B. Greenwood's son, Gordon Arthur Greenwood, also worked with his father at Mt Painter, Private companies developed the mines at Mount Painter, while the state government built a road from Umberatana to the mines, and wells to provide water for the
haulage animals. The Australian Radium Corporation ceased operations in 1932. The radium extracted from the minerals mined here were valuable for their use in medicine, with little interest in uranium until the discovery of
nuclear fission in 1939. after requests from the United States and United Kingdom governments. The area was locked down under tight security while a group of American, British, and Australian scientists, engineers, and military personnel explored the Mount Painter area thoroughly. Another road was built, from the eastern plain through the East Painter Gorge, and a new bore was sunk. Permanent buildings were constructed. However, uranium was more easily at
Radium Hill, near
Yunta, instead of in the Flinders Ranges, so operations were wound down, although Mount Painter and East Painter only finally closed in 1965. Oilmin NL and Transoil NL explored the North Flinders Ranges for uranium during the mid-1960s. Between 1968 and 1971, the
Exoil–Transoil partnership undertook major exploration and drilling over a large area of the Mount Painter Inlier, which showed small uranium deposits. In 2003 the Mount Gee and Mount Painter area was included within the "Environmental Class A Zone" defined in the South Australian Development Plan, which had as its objectives: "the conservation of the natural character and environment of the area" and "protection of the landscape from damage by mining operations and exploring for new resources... Mining operations should not take place in the Environmental Class A Zone unless the deposits are of such paramount importance and their exploitation is in the highest national or State interest that all other environment, heritage or conservation considerations may be overridden". Deposits which might potentially have the required degree of significance were identified in a few localities, including a portion of the east
Gammon Ranges and the Mount Painter-
Freeling Heights area (which includes Mt. Gee). Mining company Marathon Resources gave notice in September 2007 of its intention to apply for a mining lease allowing extraction of uranium ore from Mount Gee. To satisfy the environmental objectives, its application indicated an underground mine which would be serviced via a tunnel allowing access to infrastructure and processing facilities located away from the immediate vicinity of the
Arkaroola area, on the plains near
Lake Frome. The proposal was opposed by the owners and operators of Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary, in which the proposed mine would be located as well as conservation and anti-nuclear groups. In January 2008 the owners of Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary were alerted to environmental contamination at Mount Gee. An investigation by the
South Australian Government found that around 22,800 plastic and
calico bags containing exploration samples, drilling material, cardboard and paper waste, plastic jars,
PVC pipe, packing and other material were buried by the drilling contractor in two large shallow trenches. Under the terms of the agreement, Marathon was required to pour remaining drill samples back down drillholes; if this was not possible it was permissible to bury them, but removal of sample bags and any other rubbish was required. Marathon Resources admitted in a subsequent rectification plan that 20 drums of samples were buried in a nearby site, as well as various food packaging and
personal protective equipment waste at another nearby site. In response to this investigation, the SA Minister for Mineral Resources Development found this method of disposal of non-drill sample waste constituted a breach of licence conditions, and suspended Marathon Resources' mineral exploration licence for Mount Gee. Marathon recovered the dumped rubbish and drill samples and transported them to the
Hawker rubbish dump for disposal, and rehabilitated many of the drill sites and access tracks, and in October 2009 the
Rann government granted a 12-month exploration licence to Marathon Resources. In October 2009, the government released a draft management plan for the Northern Flinders Ranges, called "Seeking a Balance". According to its opponents, this plan allowed for mining activity right in the heart of the Arkaroola Sanctuary. ==Protection==