#Official Mining Thread

[Ho Really]

Uranium mining in Flinders Ranges may be closer
September 17, 2007

An Adelaide-based resources company says it hopes to have an underground uranium mine in the northern Flinders Ranges by 2011.

Marathon Resources says a final scoping study of the Mount Gee deposit has found that an underground mine would produce about 900 tonnes of uranium annually.

An independent analysis of exploration results means the company has reduced its estimate of the resource from about 45.5 million tonnes to about 43 million tonnes.

Marathon chief executive Stuart Hall says the result is still positive.

"We are still talking about one of the three or four biggest resources in Australia and its location in South Australia which is one of the most supportive for mining development," he said.

ABC News

Cheers

[Shuz]

So, the Mid North and Far North will just be yellowcake country?
Someone should make a big yellow cake icon for a tourist drawcard lol.

[Ho Really]

So, the Mid North and Far North will just be yellowcake country?
Someone should make a big yellow cake icon for a tourist drawcard lol.

I like that. Maybe have it glow in the dark...

Cheers

[rhino]

I'll believe this one when I see it. I'm afraid I don't have much faith in Marathon Resources. Everyone has known there's a uranium deposit there since Douglas Mawson discovered it decades ago, no-one has ever thought it was worth the effort.

[Bulldozer]

The history of Uranium in the northern Flinders is very interesting. Arkaroola's geology centre has a feature on it. If I remember correctly, most of the exploration and workings in the past were centered around Mt Painter and backed by the Americans in World War II. The state government's head geologist around then said there'd be more chance of finding workable deposits out on the plain towards Lake Frome, that would have formed from the minerals being eroded from the ranges.

Sure enough, a few decades later there's a Uranium mine there acid-leaching a deposit.

[UrbanSG]

From AdelaideNow website. This just keeps getting better. Wednesday will be a big day for SA I reckon.

Outback gold rush

CAMERON ENGLAND, CHIEF BUSINESS REPORTER
September 24, 2007 02:15am
THE gold deposit at Olympic Dam potentially is the world's biggest, BHP Billiton is expected to announce this week.

The company will release its resource upgrade for the copper, gold and uranium mine as part of its annual report on Wednesday. This will detail latest estimates on the size of the mine's deposits.

The mine already sits on top of the world's largest uranium resource and has one of the world's largest copper and silver deposits.

BHP remained tightlipped yesterday on whether the gold deposit in the state's Far North was a world record, because information could influence the company's stock price.

BHP has been operating up to 20 drilling rigs at the mine as it prepares to make a decision on whether to spend more than $6 billion expanding the mine.

The last released figures for the deposit showed it held 4430 million tonnes of ore, containing 1.1 per cent copper, 0.5 grams per tonne of gold, and 0.4 kg per tonne of uranium oxide. It is the world's 16th-largest copper producer and third-largest uranium producer.

The expansion is expected to increase copper production by 2 1/2 times to 500,000 tonnes a year, gold production from 80,000 ounces to 500,000ounces and uranium from 4500 tonnes to 15,000 tonnes.

While the Kalgoorlie superpit in Western Australia produces up to 850,000 ounces of gold a year and Newcrest Mining's Telfer mine is aiming for more than 800,000 ounces this financial year, the Olympic Dam deposit has an expected lifespan of 100 years.

Gold is fetching $US738.90 an ounce on international markets which is a near-record high.

Previous estimates of the mine's total deposits could be conservative, however, with a BHP spokesperson telling a dinner in Adelaide recently the new figure could be 50 per cent higher than previous estimates.

BHP management is not expected to make a decision until the middle of next year on whether to go ahead with the mine expansion.

It would turn it from an underground mine into the world's largest open-pit mining operation.

BHP chief executive Marius Kloppers said recently while the development timeline for Olympic Dam had slipped a little, it was important to get the job done right.

"We remain absolutely confident that Olympic Dam will be the pre-eminent supplier of uranium, underpinning much of the nuclear renaissance that is being experienced as a response to the greenhouse concerns the world currently is seeking solutions for," Mr Kloppers said."We just want to make sure that we do it right.

"That the technology will work, that the scale-up factors are the right ones, and so on.

"It's going to be there for generations and you're laying the foundation for that."

BHP expects the expanded mine to contribute about $2.5 billion to the state's economy each year, up from about $1 billion now, and generate about $80 million in government royalties, up from $35 million.

[skyliner]

After that last post I just thought of a great couple of words for SA car number plates - SA - gold!

[Will]

Thanks for posting that urban. Can't wait for Wednesday now, as it promises to be a great day in the history of SA!

[UrbanSG]

Good news. But not as good as first thought re gold reserves, from news.com.au:

BHP Billiton ups Olympic Dam resources
September 26, 2007 09:49am

BHP Billiton Ltd has almost doubled the resources at its Olympic Dam mine in South Australia, but rumours that the company was sitting on the world's largest gold resource have fallen short.

The world's biggest mining company revealed in its annual report today a significant increase in resources at the Olympic Dam copper-gold-uranium mine.

Drilling by a reported 20 rigs has increased the total resource from 4.43 billion tonnes to 7.738 billion tonnes.

BHP Billiton also reported 117 million tonnes of non-sulphide gold resources.

Together, this translates to about 80 million ounces of gold contained in the ground and falls significantly short of the world's biggest gold resource.

BHP Billiton would need to unearth a further 100 million ounces to claim the title, which is held by the massive Muruntau deposit in Uzbekistan.

Muruntau houses about 175 million ounces in resources.

BHP Billiton picked up the huge Olympic Dam copper-uranium mine in 2005 after it acquired WMC Resources for $9.2 billion.

The operation is the biggest underground mine in Australia and houses the world's largest uranium deposit and the fourth largest copper deposit.

Olympic Dam is primarily a copper-uranium operation, producing gold and silver as by-products.
The mine produced about 182,500 tonnes of copper, 3486 tonnes of uranium oxide and 91,700 ounces of gold during fiscal year 2007.

BHP Billiton is conducting a feasibility study into a planned $6 billion expansion of the mine, which would more than double the operation's copper output to 500,000 tonnes per annum

[UrbanSG]

More from AdelaideNow:

Olympic Dam mining tax bonanza for SA
GREG KELTON, STATE EDITOR
September 26, 2007 11:10am

A FINANCIAL bonanza for the state - including huge increases in mining royalties - will flow from Olympic Dam's dramatically increased payload.

Premier Mike Rann said today that Australia's biggest underground mine had just got bigger, and it was "the best news economically this state has ever received".

Mr Rann welcomed a report to the Stock Exchange by BHP this morning that the estimated size of the Olympic Dam resource had virtually doubled over the past two years.

Under the current mine expansion plans, which would turn Olympic Dam into the world's largest open-cut mine, mining royalties payable to the State Government are set to increase from $35 million a year to $80 million a year.

The mine's contribution to Gross State Product is forecast to rise from $1 billion a year to $2.5 billion a year.

"The new resource estimate of 7.85 billion metric tonnes is a virtual doubling of the 3.98 billion estimated in the company's 2005 annual report," Mr Rann said.

"It is now, quite simply, the world's largest base metals resource."

Mr Rann said Olympic Dam was now the largest source of uranium in the world "by a country mile" at 2.2 million tonnes.

It was the fourth-largest copper resource in the world, eclipsing the giant Escondida mine in Chile, and is also the fifth-largest gold resource in the world and biggest in Australia.

Mr Rann said this was despite the fact BHP was still drilling and was yet to find the perimeters of the ore body at Olympic Dam.

"A mine that was going to run for 30 or 40 years is now going to have a life of well over 100 years," he said.

"It is going to mean a huge amount in terms of royalties and an even bigger amount in terms of economic development for the state."

[jimmy_2486]

MMMMMMMMMMMMMM smell that folks.......smells like MONEY!!!...MONEY FOR US!!!!

when does everyone think we will see big changes here from this?? in terms of population change...and a mega increase in developments?

[Shuz]

Well I think the full productivity of the mine wont come into effect until 2011 or thereabouts - which also coincides with the predicted 'slowdown' of the SEQ economical boom, so I think well see a shift of focus onto SA and its resources/population/development boom immediately following in 2012, and then its all ours for the next 100 years. *evil laugh*

[Pistol]

Even though they have doubled their expected output, BHP is still 'considering' the expansion of the mine.
There is no doubt in my mind they will continue with the expansion... Exciting times ahead for SA

[UrbanSG]

From The Australian website today:

Olympic Dam worth $1 trillion
Andrew Trounson | September 26, 2007
BHP Billiton has almost doubled the value of ore in the ground at its huge Olympic Dam mine in South Australia to more than $1 trillion.

The increase is set to support mining at Olympic Dam and the tiny township of Roxby Downs for perhaps a hundred years or more, and is likely to encourage BHP's in-coming boss Marius Kloppers to as much as double the size of a planned expansion.

But BHP Billiton is facing a huge construction bill that according to some analysts could blow out to be as high as $US15 billion ($17.2 billion), including major water and power investments.

It is speculated the expanding size of the ore body and escalating construction costs for mining projects globally will encourage BHP to maximize the size of any expansion.

BHP had originally been considering doubling copper production at the mine, but Merrill Lynch is tipping a more than quadrupling in production to 1 million tonnes a year of copper.

Such an expansion would also yield 30,000 tonnes a year of uranium oxide and 500,000 ounces of gold. Merrill Lynch has forecast the cost of such an expansion at $US10 billion to $US15 billion.

But BHP is treading carefully as it assesses the different development options, and first production from any expansion isn't expected until 2013 at the earliest.
A pre-feasibility study on the project isn't expected to be completed until mid-2008.

BHP has spent about $US50 million drilling the ore body and today increased its estimate of mineral-bearing ore resources to 7.7 billion tonnes from 4.4 billion tonnes.

South Australian premier Mike Rann said the increased resource figures were “about the best news economically that this state has ever received”.

“About 17 rigs have been drilling continuously and still cannot find the extent of the resource - they can't find the perimeters, they can't find an end to the depth of it,” Mr Rann said.

In August Mr Kloppers said Olympic Dam could turnout to be the world's second biggest base metal discovery in the world behind the Norilsk nickel discover in Russia.

Contained copper resources have jumped by 38 per cent to 67 million tonnes, while contained uranium is up 27 per cent to 2.2 million tonnes. Contained gold resources have risen 11 per cent to about 11 per cent to almost 82 million ounces.

[skyliner]

This is the best financial break SA has ever had

As already implied there will be a shift of emphasis to SA and it will stay for quite some time. Makes up for the shocking time SA had in the 1990's. All good times - I believe even in the face of a recession SA will do well as demand and all the spinoffs economically will be high - energy demand linked to the increasing numbers of nuclear power stations being built around the world will keep SA going. Usually SA does badly in recssions but IMO NOT this time (should one occur here tranferred from the US loans/property issue).

This explains why I am seeking to invest in Adelaide, not anywhere else. Get in before the full effect of the mine cuts in and go with the flow.

'SA great' will have extra meaning now as will 'sensational Adelaide"

Sensational news guys.