#Official Mining Thread

[Wayno]

Should BHP build its own power plant (as it should anyway) they could generate some additional revenue by selling off unused power loads back into the national or state grid. Really, Rann needs to get off his no-nuclear stance and let BHP operate on a nuke plant, with the huge uranium deposits they'd be digging up, they'd be using thier own power for free basically.

yep agree with this approach.

[monotonehell]

Should BHP build its own power plant (as it should anyway) they could generate some additional revenue by selling off unused power loads back into the national or state grid. Really, Rann needs to get off his no-nuclear stance and let BHP operate on a nuke plant, with the huge uranium deposits they'd be digging up, they'd be using thier own power for free basically.

The cost of building one nuke plant plus all the refining and disposal costs would be larger than building and maintaining solar plants. Considering that they are in the middle of a big sunny desert that would be the prudent thing to do.

You can't just put yellowcake into a nuke power plant, you need to process and enrich it first. They don't do that at a mine site so they'd also need to build a refinery and import one of the centrifugal enrichment technologies to construct an enrichment plant and another facility to convert it into fissionable fuel rods. All of that is way out of the scope of a mining company.

[Bulldozer]

The cost of building one nuke plant plus all the refining and disposal costs would be larger than building and maintaining solar plants. Considering that they are in the middle of a big sunny desert that would be the prudent thing to do.

Sorry, but that's a load of bullshit just like the article about ODX requiring "half" of SA's power. I'd really like to see the working for how they came up with the crack-smoking figure of 42%. Our three biggest generators alone produce over 2500MW, so 690MW of that is less than 28%. I believe the total generation capacity of SA is currently around 3400MW which puts that figure at about 20%. It becomes an even smaller share when you add on the requirements as new generation capacity.

You can't just put yellowcake into a nuke power plant, you need to process and enrich it first. They don't do that at a mine site so they'd also need to build a refinery and import one of the centrifugal enrichment technologies to construct an enrichment plant and another facility to convert it into fissionable fuel rods. All of that is way out of the scope of a mining company.

You don't need to do that if you're using a heavy water reactor like the Canadian CANDU's. Otherwise, that's why we do what the Professor said and establish industry to cover the whole fuel cycle. Currently there's an excess of global enrichment capacity (which is why everyone's so concerned about Iran developing it) but a lot of that is the older and much less efficient gaseous diffusion tech. Gas centrifuge is the current bar, but Australia has developed an even more efficient laser enrichment process. Developing an enrichment facility that uses that tech would give us a tremendous cost advantage over other enrichment facilities.

The professor's call for embracing the whole fuel cycle is basically the same as Bush's GNP scheme, which despite what you think about Bush and his mates is a sterling idea if you're Australian. We would truly become the Saudi Arabia of nuclear energy and would be more able to safeguard against weapons proliferation than what we currently do. We mine the fuel, enrich it and fabricate the assemblies then lease them out to generators and take them back for reprocessing and final disposal in the best place in the world to do it.

Something I find interesting though is Petratherm Ltd's claim that Leigh Creek will run out of coal in ten years. If that's true and another suitable deposit to supply the power plant at Pt Augusta can't be found then that's almost 800MW of generation that will need replacing. Add that number to the ODX number and you get roughly the number of MW that a modern reactor can produce. Makes you think about why Rann voted down a bill to ban enrichment and nuclear power in SA....

[Wayno]

from the australian:
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/st ... 87,00.html

SA 'needs $25bn infrastructure boost'
SOUTH Australia needs $25 billion pumped into infrastructure to fuel its prospective mining boom for two decades, a key industry body says.

And crucial funding decisions need to be made immediately to fuel the impending growth, the South Australian Chamber of Mines and Energy (SACOME) said today as it released an independent study on the mining and energy sector.

SACOME chief executive Jason Kuchel said the study found the expansion planned for the Olympic Dam copper, gold and uranium mine would be pivotal in influencing infrastructure decisions impacting the whole of the state.

“With the proposed BHP Billiton Olympic Dam expansion set to be one of the world's biggest open cut mines, and a range of mining operations coming on stream or expanding, the impending demand for a whole range of infrastructure needs is staggering,” Mr Kuchel said.

“Initial estimates suggest a minimum of $25 billion in private infrastructure expenditure has already been flagged by SA explorers and mine developers as necessary for crystallising the state's lead mineral projects, or the expansion of existing mining operations.

“The South Australian resources sector is at a crucial point in infrastructure development and the seriousness of this situation should not be underestimated.”

AustralAsia Economics' Professor Richard Blandy, who was part of the study team, said the demand for skilled employees in related industries would double from an estimated 340,000 in the past year to 690,000 by 2027.

“This direct labour requirement, when coupled with the related family numbers, would provide an enormous challenge for the state to meet over this period,” he said.

The version of this article in the printed weekend australian states that if SA spends sufficient on infrastructure then we can expect a mining industry to rival that of WA's!

[AG]

Most of the investment in infrastructure will likely come from the private sector, usually in facilities such as ports, energy and sometimes in water. The SA Government is still going to have to step up its expenditure on infrastructure though, particularly on transportation facilities (road and rail) which most of the private sector is usually reluctant on funding.

[monotonehell]

How soon will these mines go into operation (theoretically)? Considering the lead times required to commission either of a nuclear, gas, solar and other types of power supplies; it might put a delay on their operations for a while if the power isn't available.

[Wayno]

How soon will these mines go into operation (theoretically)? Considering the lead times required to commission either of a nuclear, gas, solar and other types of power supplies; it might put a delay on their operations for a while if the power isn't available.

how long is a piece of string? supply and demand, ability of mining companies to raise funds, get people to work the mines, etc affects when they can start operations. It's a project management nightmare. My personal opinion is the majority of large mines currently undergoing feasibility studies will be underway within 3-7 years.

Refering to my post above (SA 'needs $25bn infrastructure boost'), the other thing stated in the printed version of the Weekend Australian was that the Govt won't be building infrastructure in hope that the mining industry gets going - a real chicken and egg situation...

[AG]

Some of the mining companies are looking at sourcing their electricity needs from interstate. In the other article, it does mention that BHP is considering sourcing electricity by transporting gas from Queensland.

[Professor]

The scope of the ODX is enourmous. The attached picture shows the size of the ore trucks that are being used in the large South American mines and similar ones will likely be used at Olympic Dam. They are considering using 100 of these trucks, valued at around $10m each, to move the overburden from the mineral body. That a billion dollar truck order. Each of the tyres costs $70,000 and there are 6 of them!

They are talking about shifting a million tons a day for 2 years before the hole reaches down to the ore body.

[Wayno]

OMG a million tons a day for 2 years...

[Bulldozer]

They are talking about shifting a million tons a day for 2 years before the hole reaches down to the ore body.

Yeah, the ODX website that they estimate 3-4 years of removing overburden before they begin production. Then it works out to producing about 1.25 tonnes of ore per second, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year for 100 years. (40 million tonnes/year)

Your average man in the street has a very hard time grasping large numbers: look at the outcry over this project's power requirements. (And where did the claim that Olympic Dam uses more water than Adelaide come from?) The spin-offs for SA of the huge power requirements and desalination plant will be great and help to open up the Eyre Peninsula and far north. Other mines in the area will probably build pipelines to hook into the one going to Olympic Dam. (Anybody know if the Woomera pipeline has the capacity?)

[monotonehell]

They are talking about shifting a million tons a day for 2 years before the hole reaches down to the ore body.

Yeah, the ODX website that they estimate 3-4 years of removing overburden before they begin production. Then it works out to producing about 1.25 tonnes of ore per second, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year for 100 years. (40 million tonnes/year)

So they'll be theoretically be burning petroleum mostly for the first 4 years until the overburden is removed (that'll be one HUGE pile of tailings ) then after that they'll need the electricity in the quantities discussed above to do the precipitation. That rules out a nuclear power facility at least for the first 5 years of production, even if they started now it would be at least 10-15 years before they could commission one. So the power needs to come from somewhere else for the near future. Gas from Qld is probably their first choice as they can throw up a gas turbine facility in under 2 years.

[Wayno]

Good 2-page pdf, updated March 1st so reasonably accurate ==> http://www.pir.sa.gov.au/__data/assets/ ... _web_2.pdf
* Page 1 is a map of SA clearly showing the location of current mines and emerging projects
* Page 2 lists more details about each mine/project, including their production rates

[crawf]

Look at that truck!

[teflon fox]

These figures are absolutely astounding ! Let's hope the necessary infrastructure is attainable and that we
are able to successfully staff such a major operation. The benefits to the state as a whole will
be immessuarable.