#Official Mining Thread

[Guest]

Here comes the world's biggest mining pit:

Is this greatest mine of them all?
Brad Crouch
12mar06
THE biggest mining project in history is set to transform South Australia into the "Saudi Arabia of the south" as the boundaries and depth of the Olympic Dam project grow by the day.

It has been revealed 16 drilling rigs, working round the clock trying to determine the extent of one of the world's richest mines, so far have failed to find the boundaries of the deposit.

The supposed edges of the field continue to return rich ore, while wells sunk to 1200m are showing good returns. There now are plans to drill as deep as 2km.

Estimates of the copper, uranium, gold and silver ore reserves have risen to almost four billion tonnes.

Mine owner BHP Billiton puts the life of the mine at "70-plus years", but Treasurer Kevin Foley said that was a conservative estimate.

"This will operate for more than a century and help turn SA into an economic powerhouse," he said.

"Mining is the third pillar we need, along with manufacturing and agriculture."

Industry experts say SA is poised to become the "Saudi Arabia of the south" as an energy-hungry world looks to the mine which holds 40 per cent of global uranium reserves as well as enormous copper, gold and silver lodes.

The proposed $5 billion expansion of the mine by 2013, turning it from an underground operation to the biggest open pit in the world, would be the biggest single such project in history and deliver a bonanza for SA from royalties, taxes, infrastructure and more than 20,000 jobs.

It would turn the existing underground mine returning revenue of $1 billion a year into an open pit, larger than the Adelaide CBD, returning $3 billion annual revenue.

Revenue would triple to $3 billion a year, royalties to the State Government would triple to $100 million and the projected annual contribution to the Gross State Product of $2.5 billion is more than the nation's wool exports.

The plan includes a $700 million desalination plant and pipeline, and a $1 billion order for 110 of the biggest dump trucks in the world.

The plan faces several hurdles, ranging from its impact on the fragile Outback environment to the political fallout of exporting uranium. If it does proceed there also is the question of finding an army of skilled workers.

A huge shortfall of workers means many are likely to be sourced from overseas, while a bidding war has already erupted for graduates.

University students in mining courses in Queensland are being offered up to $50,000 "sign on" fees by mining companies, then can walk into six-figure salaries, a move likely to be mirrored in SA, according to industry experts.

Few people fully appreciate how the planned project will change SA, according to Mr Foley.

"We've got strong manufacturing and agricultural sectors and this will be the third pillar coming into its own," he said.

"This third economic pillar of a powerful mining industry will give us economic firepower and muscle that states like Queensland have.

"No state will have a diversified economy like we have with powerful manufacturing, rural and mining industries.

"The life of this mine will go on and on and most royalties will be ploughed back into infrastructure in the north. There will be a need for schools, medical facilities, roads, police, housing, and that means significant numbers of new jobs.

Mr Foley said there might be "more Olympic Dams out there", a view backed by the SA Chamber of Mines and Energy. "The level of exploration has quadrupled in the past few years and these people don't do it unless they believe there are big deposits to be found," he said.

A feasibility study of the planned expansion is under way, before an environmental impact statement.

[AG]

Huh, thats strange? I posted the above message without being logged in.

[Howie]

FOURTH MINE New SA uranium project ready to start
By PAUL STARICK
01apr06

AUSTRALIA's fourth uranium mine is on the brink of going ahead, with the Federal Government arguing this intensifies pressure on Labor's no-new-mines policy.

Resources Minister Ian Macfarlane yesterday said he understood the owners of South Australia's Honeymoon deposit were "close to making a decision" on whether to start mining.

Mr Macfarlane said Premier Mike Rann would likely be forced into a decision on a new mine before Labor's policy could be overturned at the party's national convention next year.

But Mr Rann has insisted the Honeymoon mine already has necessary approvals and, therefore, the no-new-mines policy does not affect South Australia.

Australia has 30 per cent of the world's known recoverable uranium reserves, the bulk of this being in SA. Two of the three operating uranium mines are in SA - Olympic Dam and Beverley - with the other being Ranger in the Northern Territory.

A green light for Honeymoon's operation, combined with the planned $5 billion expansion of Olympic Dam, would place SA in a prime position to capitalise on the rising global demand for uranium as an energy source.

With growing expectation of a change in Labor policy next year, resource companies told an Adelaide conference yesterday that there could be at least another three new uranium mines operating in SA within the next six years. Honeymoon, discovered in 1972, is about 75km north-west of Broken Hill, 30km inside SA.

"We understand that the company (operating Honeymoon) is close to making a decision and will make a decision in regard to mining at Honeymoon sometime in the next six months," Mr Macfarlane told The Advertiser.

"That means Mike Rann may have to make an early decision about what he does about changing the Labor Party's three-mines policy, because Honeymoon is obviously going to make it four mines. "That makes an even bigger mockery of the Labor Party policy."

Mr Rann on Tuesday branded Labor's no-new-mines policy "anachronistic" and likely to change, but said the existing policy, forged in 1982, had helped the state by promoting the vast Olympic Dam mine.

"I want to make that abundantly clear, because all of the mines in SA - both current and prospective - have already received approval," he said.

Mines are regulated and licensed by a complex web of state and federal laws, which govern export, transport, environmental assessment, radioactive waste management, spillage reporting and security of nuclear materials.

Mr Macfarlane said he understood Honeymoon had met federal approvals. He tonight will welcome to Perth the Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, who on Monday in Canberra will sign a nuclear safeguards agreement paving the way for uranium exports to China.

Marathon Resources chief executive officer John Santich said there was potential for at least three new uranium mines in SA within the next six years, provided Labor's policy changed.

"Over the next 20 years, I think there is a reasonable chance that there will be an enrichment and / or a nuclear power facility here in South Australia," he said. Meanwhile, environmental and medical groups have criticised a move to negotiate uranium trade with China.

In a statement, the Australian Conservation Foundation, Medical Association for the Prevention of War, Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace and the Public Health Association of Australia said nothing could stop China making nuclear weapons with Australian uranium if they were able to buy it.

"China is not accountable and is not transparent," ACF campaigner David Noonan said.

[Al]

I personally don't really mind nuclear power and I reckon it's probably going to be a decent solution to all those fossil fuel power plants, at least until solar or wind becomes more efficient. I am surprised at the comments by the ACF though. China is one of the five recognised nuclear weapon states and therefore it has plenty of nukes (although a LOT less than the US or Russia) but it is also the one of the biggest importers of oil so simply saying that we're not going to sell uranium to them because it might end up in nukes seems silly. If China keeps on burning fossil fuels instead of turning to nuclear power, it'll fuck up the earth more than the possible use of it's share of nukes.

[AG]

China is a huge polluter. Some areas to the north are among the most polluted places on Earth largely because some of the cities are based around industry and virtually all the electricity is sourced from burning coal, which China has tonnes of deposits of in the far northwest of the country.

Southern China has tried to shift from combusting coal for energy to hydroelectric energy. All this does is shift the problem from air pollution to the destruction of ecosystems and the lives of many people.

There is no easy solution to providing cheap electricity that doesn't have some social or environmental impact. Nuclear energy is what the public fears most, even though many don't understand the full story.

[Algernon]

If only everybody had a sun cube

http://www.greenandgoldenergy.com.au/

12 grand, including installation, and it meets all your power requirements. It basically works by reflecting a shitload of light onto super strong solar panels.

Invented right here in Adelaide too. The solar panel bits are from NASA, but i'm still claiming it for SA!

[Will]

I am really excited by the Uranium sale to China. I think that Uranium sales have the potential to stimulate the state economy like nothing before.

The warm glow of uranium will fill the state treasury with buckets of cash, that will transform the state into a people magnet. I am sure that this state will have a mineral boom to rival if not surpass that of Western Australia.

[AG]

SA 'must consider nuclear'
By PAUL STARICK
01jun06
RESOURCES Minister Ian Macfarlane is predicting plans for a nuclear enrichment or conversion plant soon will have to be considered by the State Government.

He tipped Premier Mike Rann would leap at the chance to broaden the state's role in the nuclear industry. Mr Rann did not rule out nuclear conversion in his statement on nuclear energy to Parliament on Tuesday and senior Labor sources privately want debate on the issue.

Mr Macfarlane said "Australia would be naive" not to investigate "the possibility of value-adding to our raw uranium export product".

"There's considerable international interest in the expansion of Olympic Dam and I would be surprised if it wasn't long before the Rann Government had to consider a proposal to increase that state's role as an exporter of more than just the unrefined, unconverted uranium product," he told The Advertiser.

"As soon as Kim Beazley makes up his mind about (Labor's) three-mines policy, Mike Rann will be the first to jump at the chance to take the Labor Party one step further into the nuclear cycle through conversion or enrichment of uranium - and good on him."

A uranium conversion facility would transform uranium ore concentrates into the UF6 gas for export.

Uranium conversion is the second step in the nuclear fuel cycle, after mining and milling.

Avera, the world's largest nuclear company, previously has said it is not considering conversion or enrichment in Australia.

It is understood Olympic Dam's operator, BHP Billiton, has not broached the issue with Mr Macfarlane's office.

[crawf]

$775m mine gets go-ahead
CAMERON ENGLAND, CHIEF BUSINESS REPORTER

August 26, 2006 12:15am
Article from: The Advertiser

WORK on South Australia's second biggest metals mine will start immediately after the Oxiana board approved the $775 million Prominent Hill development.
About 800 jobs will be created during the construction phase of the project, 120km southeast of Coober Pedy, and 400 people will be employed permanently for the mine's 10-year life. The copper and gold mine is expected to produce at least 842,000 tonnes of copper concentrate and 1.15 million ounces of gold.

Oxiana managing director Owen Hegarty said it was a world-class project, with excellent copper concentrates.

But he said the company had probably been conservative about how much copper was there. "In terms of upside, this is probably one of things we've understated about Prominent Hill in the past two years," he said.

"You'll almost certainly have an underground mine here eventually."

"This is a 10-year base mine life and it will go for many years beyond that."

Mr Hegarty said Oxiana preferred to employ local people when it could. An employee training program for people from Coober Pedy, Port Augusta, Oodnadatta and other regional towns will start next month.

Mineral Resources Development Minister Paul Holloway said yesterday the mine go-ahead was a significant vote of confidence in the state's mining industry.

"It's also further concrete evidence that South Australia is on the verge of a mining boom, which should see other important projects announced in the near future," he said.

The mine was originally expected to cost about $530 million, but cost increases and a 10 per cent increase in its size added to the expense.

The mine will take two years to build, with the first ore expected to be processed in July, 2008.
[/b]

[Will]

This is great news for the state, and I am confident that once the minig boom is under way, the benefits will start to become apparent. For example I am confident that population growth will improve, and hopefully the state might finally have a net positive interstate migration!

[Ho Really]

Uranium mine approved
August 30, 2006 10:58am
AAP

THE owners of the Honeymoon uranium mine in South Australia have given approval for the development to proceed.

In a statement issued in Toronto, Uranium One said its board of directors had approved the mine's go ahead after a detailed feasibility study.

It said it hoped to commission the mine in 2008.

Uranium One has already been granted a mining licence by the South Australian Government but must now wait on final environmental approval.

Uranium One said the feasibility study had shown an estimated resource of 1.2 million tonnes of ore and put capital development costs at $US35.9 million ($47 million).

"In light of the results of the feasibility study, Uranium One's board of directors has approved the development of the Honeymoon Project," the statement said.

"The company intends to fund the project with an appropriate mix of finance from debt and internal sources."

Uranium One chief executive Neal Froneman said the feasibility study confirmed that the Honeymoon project was both technically viable and financially robust.

"Today's announcement follows closely on feasibility studies completed for our Dominion Uranium Project (in South Africa) in late July and for the Modder East Gold Project in early August," Mr Froneman said.

"It is particularly gratifying to be in a position to announce a production decision on a second uranium project within the span of four weeks.

"With the feasibility studies behind us, we are now moving towards uranium production, first in South Africa at Dominion in the first quarter of 2007 and then at Honeymoon, where we look forward to commissioning Australia's fourth uranium mine in 2008."

Cheers

[Howie]

Thanks for that post. More mines than you can poke a stick of dynamite at

[Will]

There has been a lot of good news in South Australia recently.

[Mants]

Uranium mining on Fleurieu Peninsula

JOANNA VAUGHAN

October 03, 2006 12:15am
Article from: The Advertiser

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RESIDENTS of a Fleurieu Peninsula area earmarked for uranium exploration, are "extremely anxious" about the possibility of a mine on their doorstep.
The owners of several properties in the Glendambo area, between Yankalilla and Myponga, recently received letters from mining company Marathon, saying their land would be explored.

Although there are no plans for the development of a uranium mine at this stage, a large land search will take place.

Tanya and Anthony Roe who live near Yankalilla with their 15-month-old son, Lachlan, received notice two weeks ago.

"If they are spending time and money looking, presumably they are hoping to find something," Mrs Roe said.

"(A mine) would be disastrous for our health and the environment. It's a lose/lose situation." Premier Mike Rann, however, insists this will not happen.

"While I am Premier of this state, there will be no uranium mine established anywhere near the Myponga Reservoir," he said.

"Under Don Dunstan's 1971 mining act, companies have a legal right to explore. However this does not give companies the automatic right to develop or establish any mining activity."

The letter states that an appeal against the operation can be lodged within 21 days.

The most frustrating thing for Mrs Roe, however is that the exact details are vague.

"I was trying to call all last week but I can't seem to get on to anyone or get any information," she said.

"At this stage, I don't even really know when they are coming, or what exactly what they are going to do. But I know it will impact on our property."

During 1954 and 1955, uranium was mined in the area from the Wild Dog mine.

if mines were set up, it would be seriously buggered.

we own a farm in Wattle Flat, and Dad lives down there most of the time. It's dead in the middle of Yankalilla and Myponga and right near Wild Dog Creek and the old mines.

would just hate to see this happen

[crawf]

Thankgod this urainum mine isnt going ahead