#Official Mining Thread

[Wayno]

Wayno, I guess the chart shows an increase in production. The mining boom is still in the development stage. Things like removing overburden for a year don't produce anything (except a huge pile of tailings ). The promised boom is yet to come.

maybe, i suppose i was expecting much more than a meagre 14% increase in mining production across the next 6 years...

[monotonehell]

Wayno, I guess the chart shows an increase in production. The mining boom is still in the development stage. Things like removing overburden for a year don't produce anything (except a huge pile of tailings ). The promised boom is yet to come.

maybe, i suppose i was expecting much more than a meagre 14% increase in mining production across the next 6 years...

OIC you're talking about the red dashed target line? Hrmz yeah...

[UrbanSG]

The trick is the government never sets realistic targets. It will always under-play its targets. So that ,in say 2010 it can say "we reached the 2014 target 4 years early" etc etc. This happens all the time. Pure politics. If the boom goes according to plan I would think mining production in SA will be well above $4 billion by 2014.

[Queen Anne]

After reading the latest posts on this thread I had a quick look to see if I could find anything about our 'boom'. It's almost a feeling of anxiety wondering if it will all pan out, as SA is due some major good fortune!

Anyway, I found this, which seems of interest:
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/st ... 43,00.html

Cheers, Caroline

[rhino]

From today's Australian:

South Aust stocks rising in mine boom
Andrew McGarry | May 01, 2008

SOUTH AUSTRALIA is facing a continuous mining boom, and deserves to be rerated like a successful exploration company on the stock market, according to a primary industries expert.
The executive director of Primary Industries and Resources SA, Paul Heithersay, said there was enough evidence of successful exploration in the state, coupled with a strong Chinese demand for resources, to reject concerns the mining boom would inevitably lead to a bust.
"We can't see a bust because the commodities we have are the ones that China needs -- copper, zinc, iron ore, zircon," he said. "Australia is one of the main producers of these and SA now has a big chunk of that sector. And uranium of course."
He compared the state's economy to a company that had announced the discovery of a new mineral resource.
"The market rerates the company -- they'll go from a 20c share to a 50c share, based on its future earnings," he said, speaking at the Paydirt resources and investment conference in Adelaide.
"We see the same thing -- our future earnings here in South Australia are fantastic.
"There needs to be a re-rating."
Mining now contributes 24 per cent of SA's export income, and Dr Heithersay said this figure was expected to rise.
"We've gone from 10 per cent to 24 per cent of our export economy," he said. "We (already) exceed wine, we exceed agriculture, we exceed manufacturing. But we expect mining will be about 50 per cent (of export income) within five years."
South Australia now has 10 operating mines, compared to just four in 2001.
These include BHP Billiton's Olympic Dam copper-gold-uranium mine, with plans for a multi-billion-dollar expansion from next year. A further 30 projects are at various stages of the mining licensing application process, from scoping studies to pre-feasibility studies, and there are another 100 mining prospects.
"Not all those projects will make it through to a mine, but ... you need a big pipeline of projects like that to ensure the supply coming through at the other end," he said. "With that sort of investment in the ground, and what's going into drilling, there's no doubt there are going to be new discoveries made and they're going to be the third wave (of mining in South Australia)."
Providing infrastructure and skilled workers were the biggest challenges facing the state Government and the industry, Dr Heithersay said.

[Wayno]

After reading the latest posts on this thread I had a quick look to see if I could find anything about our 'boom'. It's almost a feeling of anxiety wondering if it will all pan out, as SA is due some major good fortune!

Anyway, I found this, which seems of interest:
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/st ... 43,00.html

Cheers, Caroline

I'm eager to examine Foley's state budget (mid-June) as it will hopefully include an uplift in revenue flows from the mining industry. This will aleviate some of my personal anxiety

[Wayno]

The trick is the government never sets realistic targets. It will always under-play its targets. So that ,in say 2010 it can say "we reached the 2014 target 4 years early" etc etc. This happens all the time. Pure politics. If the boom goes according to plan I would think mining production in SA will be well above $4 billion by 2014.

hope it is as simple as that...

[Wayno]

The trick is the government never sets realistic targets. It will always under-play its targets. So that ,in say 2010 it can say "we reached the 2014 target 4 years early" etc etc. This happens all the time. Pure politics. If the boom goes according to plan I would think mining production in SA will be well above $4 billion by 2014.

more evidence (albeit anecdotal) that you are correct:

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/st ... 00,00.html

SA mines to double export profit
SOUTH Australia's mining boom is expected to double its contribution to the state's export income within five years.

Paul Heithersay, executive director of Primary Industries and Resources South Australia, said mineral exports made up 25 per cent of South Australia's export income.

“We've gone from 10 per cent to 24 per cent of our export economy,” he said. “We exceed wine, we exceed agriculture, we exceed manufacturing.

“But we expect it (mining) will be about 50 per cent (of export income) within five years.”

Dr Heithersay, who was speaking at the Paydirt mining conference in Adelaide, has just returned from a two-week South Australian trader mission to China.

He said Chinese demand for resources was not going to diminish, and would provide a big bonus for South Australian producers.

“We all know about the boom in China and India, but you've got to see it to believe it,” he said.

“The place has got the after-burners on, and it is going to have a significant impact on South Australia.”

From four operating mines in 2001, South Australia now has 10. These include BHP Billiton's copper, gold and uranium mine at Olympic Dam, and its plans for a multi-billion dollar expansion from next year.

Another 30 projects are at various stages of the mine-licence application process, and there are another 100 mining prospects.

“Not all those projects will make it through to a mine, but you need a big pipeline of projects like that to ensure the supply coming through at the other end,” Dr Heithersay said.

“With that sort of investment in the ground, and what's going into drilling, there is no doubt there are going to be new discoveries made and they are going to be the third wave (of mining in South Australia).”

SA's current annual exports are worth approx $20b, including $3.5b of mining.

Given a modicum of state growth across the board, and IF mining is truly expected to represent 50% of SA's exports in 5 years, then we are talking about a $10+billion mining industry, far exceeding the $4b as stated by P.I.R in their March 2008 report...

[skyliner]

Saw the article today myself.Got on the net but was beaten with the entry. Very encouraging and gives SA a greater positive profile nationally. More and more is appearing in national papers and points to an almost certain surety of the boom fully developing here. Pointed to by real estate and building growing as they currently are.

Also with natural gas rather than oil as the chosen future energy source for transport, we stand to gain in that area as well.

ADELAIDE - CITY ON THE MOVE

[rhino]

I heard mention of the kaolin deposits near Poochera on the Eyre Peninsula on the news yesterday, as if somebody'd just discovered them (they've been known about for years). Is there a shortage of kaolin, anyone know why the sudden interest?

Also heard that the port of Thevenard is to be expanded to enable shipment of mineral sands (zircon) from Iluka's huge prospects north of there. I wonder if a new rail line might be involved?

[Wayno]

I heard mention of the kaolin deposits near Poochera on the Eyre Peninsula on the news yesterday, as if somebody'd just discovered them (they've been known about for years). Is there a shortage of kaolin, anyone know why the sudden interest?

Also heard that the port of Thevenard is to be expanded to enable shipment of mineral sands (zircon) from Iluka's huge prospects north of there. I wonder if a new rail line might be involved?

Not sure about a shortage. I thought Kaolin was abundant in many places worldwide? For the uninitiated, Kaolin an amazing multi-use material used in cosmetics, ceramics, paper (it's main use), food additive, in toothpaste, a light diffuser in light globes, and in paint. also previously used for anti-diarrohea medication, and to calm upset stomachs! amazing!

Do you know the life span of the Iluka zircon mine? i'm sure that will be the main factor in whether to use trucks or rail...

[rhino]

Don't know the life of the mines, but there are 5 of them - Gulliver (east of Ceduna) and Imarna (near Ooldea on the TransCon) are prospects only at this stage. There are known deposits at Tripitaka, Jacinth and Ambrosia, which are all between Penong and Ooldea.

[Wayno]

Good to hear some reports of confidence from BHP. It's still early days but this appears to quash the recent rumours (generated by the Libs, MHS) that Olympic dam might not be as big as we hoped...

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008 ... 233147.htm

Olympic Dam to become world's largest mine: BHP
The Australian spokesman for mining giant BHP Billiton says the company's Olympic Dam expansion is on track to become the world's largest mine.

Richard Yeeles says the expansion will take Olympic Dam from four mining operations to more than 40 by 2010.

Mr Yeeles says copper production will triple and uranium production will increase from 4,000 tonnes a year to up to 19,000.

He says after the company's pre-feasibility study of the site at the end of the year, a 12-month feasibility study will follow, before the staged expansion of the mine can begin.

"What we can say is that we have invested considerable money in simply this phase of the work - the study - because this is a very large project by world standards," he said.

"It is a magnificent ore body and we have to do the ore body justice for the company, for the shareholders, for South Australians because ultimately they are the owners."

[rhino]

Richard Yeeles says ".....It is a magnificent ore body and we have to do the ore body justice for the company, for the shareholders, for South Australians because ultimately they are the owners."

Wow! I'm sure glad to hear them admit that! Despite rumours I have been hearing about how BHP wants to handle this, we need this mine to benefit South Australia as much as possible. Mine workers' families need to be housed at Roxby Downs to create even more service and technical/trade jobs in this state to push the economy forward. Fly-in-fly-out may be good for the company, but it's shite for the state's economy because a lot of the wages will be going interstate and new jobs are not being created. Then, we need to do as much processing of the ore as possible here in South Australia - creating more jobs and more opportunities. As Richard Yeeles says - South Australians are the owners of this ore - while BHP can make money pulling it out of the ground and refining it, it's still South australian ore and South Australians should be the beneficiaries to a large degree.

[Wayno]

We better start making people!
One for mum, one for dad, one for the country, and 3 more for the mining industry!

http://adelaide.yourguide.com.au/news/l ... 36135.html

Wanted: 375,000 skilled workers
The local mining industry will need 375,000 skilled workers over the next 20 years as the industry gears the state up to become another Western Australia.

The future of mining in SA is looking so bright that nobody’s calling it a boom anymore – boom denotes bust.

South Australian mining leader Ian Gould prefers “step change” caused by a fundamental shift in metal prices that have ratcheted up from low levels of the past decade and are going to stay high for a generation at least.

“As India and China move their standard of living up - with bathrooms and communications needing massive amounts of copper – the amount of copper mined in the next 25 years alone will be the same as the total amount mined in world history.

Gould, as chairman of the South Australian Mining Professionals Expert Group, said the big three mines – Olympic Dam, Prominent Hill and Carapateena – would all be mining copper, gold and uranium in vast quantities when they were fully developed.

The three metals would make a very stable three-legged stool for the local economy that would underpin South Australian for 100 years Gould explained. As they were all sold in separate markets and had very different uses – it provided a stable base on which the local economy would be based.

“These three first cousins (OD, Prominent Hill and Carapateena) all came from a massive geological event 1588 million years ago – “an unregulated event” quips Gould – where magma from the earth’s lower crust or mantle was spewed up into what we now call South Australia.

“Lying under hundreds of metres of cover we have been clever to find the stuff and our techniques of finding ore under cover are so good now that a number of other “elephants” like these three will be found,” said Gould.

“Elephants are usually found in herds and there’s no reason why there won’t be a number of other such orebodies down there,” Gould said.

“In all three of these orebodies, they haven’t found the sides or the bottoms to them yet.” Gould paid tribute to Premier Rann for his “true courage” in setting up the PACE program that has stimulated the exploration industry in SA to take second place behind Western Australia – and ahead of Queensland.

He also praised the Premier for his work in getting rid of the illogical three mines policy where it was okay to expand the biggest uranium mine in the world but you couldn’t start a little one next door.

“Thanks to the Premier we’re not languishing under some very strange policies indeed,” Gould said.

He said the demand for worldwide reductions in greenhouse gases made SA uranium the fuel for the future.

Gould said the local mining industry vision was to emulate WA’s mineral wealth. He said other local mining of zircon, iron ore and hot rocks were also coming along nicely.

“Premier Rann’s policy to back mining with his PACE incentives turned out to be exactly the right policy,” Gould said. “But now we move into stage two – developing the mines. There will be an enormous leveraging effect on our population of just 1.6 million people.”

He said back in the 1840’s South Australia was the biggest copper mining centre in the world.

“At that time there was also a shortage of skilled labor and so we opened up our doors to Welsh, Cornish and Prussian miners,” he added.

“While everybody feared we’d be singing in massed choirs, eating pasties and dancing with pointy helmets, they all managed to fit in pretty well. The mining upsurge will provide thousands of interesting jobs for fabricators, mine planners, lawyers, accountants and many other professions right here in Adelaide. There’ll be jobs for our kids and their children. At the moment there’s a huge gap in job opportunities with not nearly enough people to fill them so we’ll have to double the number of our trained workforce at least.

“Perhaps the tafes will have to return to training tradespeople. All sorts of co-operative arrangements between industry and the government need to train the workforce over the next 20 years.”