#Official Mining Thread

[skyliner]

SA seems to be having a better time of it in the mining industry than does QLD. Often the other way round, but great to hear that the great southern state is holding well! By contrast, up here QLD is having constant layoffswhich are becoming the norm as coal contracts - QLD not economically good at all - fallen to $1.7bn debt from about $809m profit last year with massive infrastructure sytems partly done. Inferences - not good.

SA - STATE ON THE MOVE

[Wayno]

SA seems to be having a better time of it in the mining industry than does QLD. Often the other way round, but great to hear that the great southern state is holding well! By contrast, up here QLD is having constant layoffswhich are becoming the norm as coal contracts - QLD not economically good at all - fallen to $1.7bn debt from about $809m profit last year with massive infrastructure sytems partly done. Inferences - not good.

yep - i heard another 450 job losses in QLD Mining today - yikes!

[rhino]

I've put this in the Point Lowly thread as well, mods can delete it if they feel this is inappropriate.

From today's Adelaide Now:

Whyalla board backs Bonython deep port
SARAH MARTIN
March 03, 2009 11:15pm

THE Whyalla Economic Development Board is backing the Port Bonython minerals export proposal, saying it is esssential for jobs growth in the region.
The project has caused much controversy in the Whyalla community and last month the council voted not to support the proposal in its present form.
The project involves the development of a deep-water commodities export harbour to support the region's burgeoning resources industry.
The council has said it wants to see the port moved to an alternative site to avoid environmental damage to the area which is a cuttlefish breeding ground.
However, WEDB chief executive Steve Arndt said the council's position was based on the views of a vocal minority.
He said the business community of Whyalla supported the proposal which would guarantee jobs for "decades to come".
"I don't know if there is a large amount of community concern - we are talking about maybe 100 people out of 22,500 people and as always minorities can be rather vocal on issues such as this," he said.
"I am putting the message out from the business community that we support this project - it is about creating new jobs in the future and creating a pipeline of activity for the region."
Mr Arndt said the present site was the most appropriate location for the deep-water port, and the council's alternative site was not feasible.
"In order to move the project further south the indications are that we will be looking at at least twice the cost, and if that is the case then it is unlikely to happen," he said.
Mr Arndt said the proponent, Spencer Gulf PortLink Consortium, should be given a chance to address some of the concerns raised by the Council.
SPGL will lodge a feasibility study report to the Department of Transport, Energy and Infrastructure next week, with a briefing for potential users of the port planned for the week of March 16.
Western Plains Resources, a potential user of the port, is keen to see the project go ahead.
In a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange yesterday, the company said it was concerned the consortium would delay the project.
"WPR does not accept that SGPL should be granted what amounts to a free option to develop the port according to its own timetable," the company stated.

[Wayno]

Building partnerships and knowledge during thr downturn

This is a smart move, and will help SA ramp up more quickly once good economic times return.

http://minerals.pir.sa.gov.au/press_and ... skatchewan

Minister for Mineral Resources Development Paul Holloway said today South Australia and Canada’s Saskatchewan Province have entered an agreement to promote improved scientific and technical cooperation within the minerals industry.

A Memorandum of Understanding has been signed between Primary Industries and Resources S.A. and Saskatchewan’s Ministry of Energy and Resources on the sidelines of the world’s biggest mining convention, the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada Congress, or PDAC.

Mr Holloway says the freshly inked MOU will promote exchanges of information and facilitate scientific and technical cooperation on mineral resources development in each jurisdiction.

The MOU will also provide the opportunity for knowledge sharing on uranium geoscience, Mr Holloway says.

“There are a lot of mutual benefits that can flow when two agencies with such a wealth of experience and knowledge in the mining industry are able to pool their resources and know-how,” Mr Holloway says.

“Saskatchewan is the leading jurisdiction in North America for uranium exploration and mining production.

“The Athabasca Basin in Saskatchewan has the world’s largest high grade uranium mines and produces about 23 percent of the world’s uranium.

“On the other hand, South Australia is recognised as being one of the most prospective geological terrains for the next generation of uranium mine developments in Australia.

“The Olympic Dam deposit in its own right contains more than one third of the world’s known low cost recoverable uranium resources.”

Saskatchewan Energy and Resources Minister Bill Boyd said Saskatchewan and South Australia are two premier uranium-mining jurisdictions in the world and the alliance of these two uranium-mining jurisdictions will be mutually beneficial.

“Joint cooperation by the South Australian and Saskatchewan Geological Surveys will lead to new insights for exploration and discovery,” Mr Boyd says.

“The partnership, due to begin in 2009, involves technical exchanges on all aspects of geoscience including geological and mineral resource mapping, information management and delivery and a range of other geoscience initiatives.

“South Australia and Saskatchewan will also share information on the administration and regulation of uranium exploration and mining.

“Good science is often forged by innovative alliances such as this.

“The partnership between our jurisdictions will foster an environment for open exchanges on world’s best practice mineral exploration and mining.”

The objectives of the MOU are to:

• * Encourage and maximise the economic development of the mineral sectors of their Province/State;
  * Share similar jurisdictional issues in relation to the administration of exploration and mining;
  *Share experiences with information systems to most effectively disseminate government and industry geoscientific information;
  * Seek a “window” into the mining and mineral exploration scenes in their respective jurisdiction;
  * To advance and promote best practice and continuous technical and scientific improvement in their geoscientific activities. An aspect of this could include professional development exchanges and;
  *To cooperate in the preparation of geological studies, or other forms of information, of mutual interest to both Participants.

[UrbanSG]

The part about the headquaters for BHP's 'Uranium Australia' is interesting. I think it should be their world uranium headquaters instead or even better the base metals headquarters shifted from South America to Adelaide like Rann wanted a few years ago.

Hopefully it will be a headquaters that grows quickly as the start up doesn't even seem to replace those jobs lost recently from the Adealaide office.

Article from Adelaidenow:

BHP Billiton sacks 85 at Roxby Downs Olympic Dam mine
CHRISTOPHER RUSSELL, BUSINESS EDITOR
March 10, 2009 02:30pm

BHP Billiton today axed 85 workers at its Olympic Dam mine.

The workers, from positions across existing mining and processing work at the mine rather than working on the Olympic Dam expansion, were told their jobs were terminated immediately.

BHP Billiton in January flagged some 6000 job cuts from its worldwide workforce - but Olympic Dam workers did not know who would be included in the cuts until today.

A spokesman said the falling price of copper - which has plunged more than 60 per cent as demand for commodities wanes - was the cause of the cuts.

The cuts are in addition to 200 workers made redundant as BHP Billiton enters a waiting phase while its expansion plans at Olympic Dam are being assessed.

BHP will still employ about 3000 people at Olympic Dam.

The company also announced that 50 workers from Olympic Dam will be moved to Adelaide as part of a restructure.

Adelaide will become the headquarters of the company's Uranium Australia section, with the 50 workers involved in office functions such as finance and human resources.

Uranium Australia and Olympic Dam will be headed by Dean Dalla Valle as chief operating officer. He was appointed last month to replace Graeme Hunt.

[Wayno]

White Dam being fast-tracked...

The White Dam gold mine is being fast tracked, with JV funding having just been achieved. The mine is located in SA approx 80km from Broken Hill and will deliver 330,000+ ounces of gold during its lifetime.

Production is expected to start in Q3 this year.

[Wayno]

Uranium heading towards critical mass

No, critical Mass is not a demand by your grandma to attend church!

It is excellent news that govt & industry are expecting a 20% uptick in production by 2012, esp since SA is well poised to capitalise on this situation - we have several mines underway including 2 that just received an injection of foreign investment!

Australia's uranium industry could lift output by about 20 percent in three years, government and industry officials said on Monday, as the nation gears up for its first major expansion of uranium mining in a decade.

Australia's uranium industry has been hamstrung since the early 1980s by political hostility to the nuclear fuel, but long-standing bans on new mines by various state governments are gradually being lifted in the face of economic crisis.

A state-government minister and an industry executive told a conference that Australia could boost annual output of uranium oxide to 12,460 tonnes by 2012 from new mines in South Australia and Western Australia and from expansion of existing mines.

Australia produced 10,101 tonnes last year from its three existing mines, two of which are in South Australia and the other in the Northern Territory. Western Australia lifted its ban on new mines last year and Queensland may also lift its ban soon.

South Australian state mines minister Paul Holloway said Japan's Mitsui & Co (8031.T) had already invested A$104 million ($68.3 million) in December for a 49 percent stake in a new mine project called Honeymoon in the state's outback.

Canada's Uranium One (UUU.TO) Inc, which owns the rest, aims to produce about 400 tonnes per annum from 2010 from Honeymoon.

"While we expect increased competition within Australia now that Western Australia has dropped its long-standing opposition to uranium mining, this state still retains its first-mover advantage," Holloway said in a prepared speech. Among existing uranium producers, Energy Resources of Australia (ERA.AX), a unit of Rio Tinto (RIO.AX) (RIO.L), is expanding output at its Ranger mine in the Northern Territory and BHP Billiton (BHP.AX) (BLT.L) plans to lift output at its Olympic Dam mine in South Australia.

The country's third mine, Beverley in South Australia, is operated by U.S. based General Atomic's Heathgate Resources.

In Western Australia, Toro Energy Ltd (TOE.AX) hopes to have its Wiluna project in production as early as 2012.

Toro Energy chief executive Greg Hall told the conference the Wiluna project could produce 680 tonnes a year.

Toro and BHP, with its Yeerlirrie project, are the only firms currently holding uranium mining leases in Western Australia.

Hall told the conference that long-term uranium prices of about US$70 per pound were likely to be maintained as new nuclear power plants were brought on-stream.

He said 43 new nuclear plants were being built and a further 106 planned world-wide, with 439 plants now in operation.

[skyliner]

Those last two lines really say it all. We are so well positioned for this - just need BHP to come to the party so to speak.

SA - STATE ON THE MOVE

[UrbanSG]

From the ABC:

Uranium mining expansion facing delay, warns analyst
By Nick Harmsen

17.03.09

Olympic Dam expansion could be delayed, says analyst (ABC News)


A resource analyst is warning the global financial crisis could force BHP Billiton to delay a planned expansion of the Olympic Dam mine in outback South Australia by at least two years.

He has told a conference in Adelaide that the uranium industry is enduring a major shake-out thanks to the downturn, but will survive.

Among an array of resources, Olympic Dam near Roxby Downs has the world's largest known uranium deposit.

The SA Government has long heralded a massive expansion of the mine, saying it will underpin an economic boom.

But the financial crisis has already claimed 85 jobs at Olympic Dam and an expansion date of 2013 is not set in stone.

Resource analyst Warwick Grigor forecasts a delay.

"Olympic Dam is probably going to slip by at least two years in its timetable, if not longer," he said.

EIS due soon

The SA Government insists the project will go ahead and is negotiating a new indenture agreement with BHP Billiton, ahead of the release of an environmental impact statement (EIS) in May.

Paul Heithersay, of Primary Industries and Resources SA, thinks the mine has a future despite the current downturn.

"Clearly nothing is going to touch Olympic Dam in terms of contained uranium and therefore exploring for more of the same seems a pretty good bet to me," he said.

But a tough credit market and a 68 per cent plunge in ore prices is making life much tougher for the once red-hot uranium exploration industry.

Greg Hall, of Toro Energy, says there are still opportunities.

"While we've probably reduced the amount of exploration, we are still undertaking some very targeted exploration on significant potential projects," he said.

Michael Angwin, of the Australian Uranium Association, thinks the industry will ride out the tough time.

"The increase in demand for nuclear power over the next 20 years or so will be between 50 and 100 per cent and Australia, with 40 per cent of the world's low-cost uranium resources, is well-placed to meet that demand," he said.

He says demand will be fuelled by a move towards low-carbon energy.

[Wayno]

Uranium mines nowadays are very quick to ramp-up, but ODX is an exception - here's why:

Most uranium-only mines use In-Situ Leaching (ISL), aka solution mining, which involves no digging or physical rock extraction. Instead, the uranium is recovering by injecting a solution into the ground which dissolves the u3o8 and pumps the "pregnant" solution to the surface where it can be recovered. This process requires little surface disturbance (and is reasonably cheap).

With ODX, the situation is complex. Firstly, the minerals & uranium are buried deep deep deep underground - so ISL is not ideal. It's also currently operating as an undergound mine so pumping mega-litres of ISL liqiud compound into the ground above the heads of people working down there is a bad idea! Also, even though ODX has 30+% of the worlds uranium reserves, the justification for expanding to a freakin' massive open pit mine has to include consideration for all minerals, and unfortunatately the price of many (e.g. copper) have dropped substantially in recent months. Not surprisingly, BHP has to wait for "a few more planets to align" before committing to remove 1million tonnes of overburden everyday for 4years!

The above ABC article by Nick Harmsen is not well written (surprising really - he normally gets his facts straight), and implies ODX is simply being held back by the faultering uranium industry. The converse is true - ODX is almost self justifying from an uranium perspective - even in current market conditions.

A 2 year delay for ODX is nothing in the grand scheme of things. Be patient Grass Hopper...

[Wayno]

For those interested, here's the QRC business case for uranium mining in Queensland: http://www.qrc.org.au/_dbase_upl/QRC%20 ... ly2008.pdf

10mins of quite easy reading...

[Wayno]

Another Uranium Distrinct in SA

And sooo attractively close to export locations!

pirie-basin.JPG (63.72 KiB) Viewed 1916 times

URANIUMSA has discovered what it says is a new uranium province in South Australia.

Speaking at the Paydirt 2009 Uranium Conference, managing director Russel Bluck said drilling in the Pirie Basin had provided enough data to confirm the uranium prospectivity of the area.

"The results are of a calibre sufficient to establish the Pirie Basin and its Kanaka beds as a new uranium district in South Australia,'' he said.

"Our drilling over 2008 and 2009 has evolved a clear picture of the mineralisation and it is clear that the Pirie Basin and the Kanaka beds have similar size and prospectivity to the areas of South Australia's Curnamona Basin, which host the established uranium producer at Beverley, and the prospective mines at Four Mile and at Honeymoon and Oban.

"Exploration of the Pirie Basin for sediment-hosted uranium is at a similar stage to that of the Curnamona Province following the initial discovery of the Beverley prospect in 1969.''

The Pirie Basin stretches for more than 100km between Whyalla and Cowell.

Mr Bluck said UraniumSA now planned to drill the southern and northern extensions of the zones of mineralisation already discovered.

"The district has the right Miocene and Eocene age, permissive sand and lignite lithologies to contain economic uranium mineralisation and we have now demonstrated that they do contain uranium mineralisation of up to 785 parts per million uranium oxide equivalent,'' he said.

"Our western mineralised zone within the Mullaquana prospect remains open to the south, west and north, so we have a high level of confidence about the resource potential of our new discovery.''

[rhino]

Great news Wayno!

How many other Uranium Distrincts do we have?

Is that like, part District, part Precinct?

[Wayno]

Great news Wayno!

How many other Uranium Distrincts do we have?

Is that like, part District, part Precinct?

it's a distinct district

[UrbanSG]

From the Australian today:

Rann sticks with Olympic Dam plan
Michael Owen, SA political reporter | March 26, 2009

MIKE Rann has brushed aside concern that the global recession could force BHP Billiton to scale back expansion of its giant Olympic Dam mine in outback South Australia, declaring that the multi-billion-dollar investment is "going to happen".

But the timing of the redevelopment remains a sticking point for the mining house as it continues a huge print run of its long-awaited environmental impact statement on the future of its already vast copper, gold and uranium mine, 560km north of Adelaide.

BHP Billiton spokesman Richard Yeeles said yesterday the 3750-page draft EIS document was "still at the printers" and would be delivered in early May.

The draft EIS has taken 3 1/2 years to complete.

After consultation with the public, governments and interest groups, a decision on whether to proceed with the expansion by transforming the existing underground operation into the world's largest open-cut mine would be taken by the company's board.

The EIS will address issues such as sourcing water, power and skilled workers for a mammoth project with an estimated longevity of 100 years.

The company has scaled back its expansion team while it awaits government approvals.

Mr Yeeles said yesterday the project was essentially in a holding pattern until the middle of next year.

The South Australian Premier, in a wide-ranging interview with The Australian, said the state Government had not been told of any delays and dismissed industry speculation the expansion was likely to be postponed by two or more years.

The project, estimated at between $15 billion and $30 billion, had originally been scheduled for a sign-off early next year, before the March state election, which would have been politically convenient for Mr Rann, who has invested much in promoting South Australia's looming mining boom.

However, Mr Rann acknowledged that the global economic crisis had put BHP Billiton mines under pressure.

"But we have not been told it has been delayed two years," Mr Rann said. "We know that every mining company is under pressure. We also know the Olympic Dam expansion is going to happen. BHP didn't buy it to leave it as a car park."

He said the issue was "just the timing".

"The fact is, the expansion will go ahead and it will have enormous benefits for South Australia," Mr Rann said.

"The Olympic Dam mine is seen as the mothership because it is the mother of all mines."

Yesterday afternoon, just hours before state parliament's upper house was set to vote in favour of a Greens bill forcing an extension of the eight-week EIS public comment period, Mr Rann announced that consultation had been extended to 14 weeks.

"The extended public consultation period will mean that government decisions on the project are unlikely to be made before the middle of next year," Mr Rann said.