Sensational-Adelaide.com

Woomera opened for mining
Political Editor Mark Kenny in Canberra
From: AdelaideNow May 03, 2011 12:22PM

A PLAN to unlock Woomera defence land in the state's far north to mining is estimated to guarantee at least $35 billion of gold, copper, iron ore and uranium.

Announcing the decision a short time ago, Federal Defence Minister Stephen Smith and Premier Mike Rann declared it a historic day for South Australia which opened up a mineral rich area equivalent to the size of England.

"This would be the biggest economic boost that the state's ever had," Mr Rann said at the announcement in Woomera.

Both Governments said it would pay dividends to SA for decades to come.

Under new arrangements, Defence will remain the primary user of the Woomera Prohibited Area.

The area will be divided into Green, Amber and Red zones, each offering different levels of access or timeshare to non-Defence users.

"... a new management framework will be introduced to increase use of the Woomera Prohibited Area in Australia's national interest by better balancing national security and economic considerations," Mr Smith said.

The Government said the WPA would remain an essential Defence testing and evaluation asset and play an important role in our national security and Defence capability.

It's remoteness and size made it a unique location for large scale and long range weapons testing.

At the same time, the new timeshare arrangement will allow greater access, and greater certainty of access, by the resources and energy sectors.

Federal Energy Minister Martin Ferguson said: "The Woomera Prohibited Area has great economic potential, with estimates that more than $35 billion of developments, including iron ore, gold and uranium projects would be possible over the next decade."

The area will be divided into Green, Amber and Red zones, each offering different levels of access or timeshare to non-Defence users.

New port facility to boost ore exports
Chief Business Reporter Cameron England
From: The Advertiser May 04, 2011 12:00AM

A REVOLUTIONARY plan to export iron ore through Cowell will give exporters another route to send commodities overseas.

IronClad Mining has struck a deal with Sea Transport Corporation to ship its ore to a floating harbour in the Spencer Gulf where it will be loaded on to large ships for export.

The plan bypasses the need for a large bulk commodities port, which has been a major bottleneck for mining companies looking to start projects in South Australia.

IronClad chairman Ian Finch said yesterday the State Government had granted the development major project status, and it could be in operation as soon as September.

This would coincide with the start of mining at IronClad's Wilcherry Hill project on the Eyre Peninsula which aims to export two million tonnes of ore per year in its first phase.

"It is a win-win situation for everyone, and is a very exciting project for all parties involved," he said.

"Necessity is the mother of invention, and the establishment of our state-of-the-art floating harbour and Sea Transport's multi-user port facility are testament to what can be achieved when innovative people put their heads together to solve an issue."

The port and the floating harbour will be equipped with negative pressure sheds, which will minimise the escape of iron ore dust.

Video: New proposed bulk port facility

Mr Finch said he understood that the facility would be capable of handling product from more than one mine, and potentially other customers such as grains exporters.

Exporting the ore from Lucky bay at Cowell will reduce the distance IronClad has to move its ore to port from 540km to 154km and reduce the operating cost by more than 20 per cent to $65 per tonne of ore.

The company was previously intending to ship the product out through Port Adelaide.

The port facility will be developed in two stages.

Stage one will use tug boats and barges to transport ore in containers to ships in the gulf.

Stage two will use customised feeder barges, on-shore loading facilities and an off-shore floating harbour.

Sea Transport Corporation operated the former ferry service between Wallaroo and Cowell.

A Flinders ports-led consortium has been assessing the development of a bulk commodities port at Port Bonython near Whyalla for more than two years, but has not yet made a commitment to go ahead with the project.

Floating harbour in the Spencer Gulf...
Bypasses the need for a large bulk commodities port...
Could be in operation as soon as September...

• 1) Red Zone: Will continue to be used for ADF secret weapons development & testing, and will remain closed to miners for ~5 years, at which time a further review will be held. In the meantime, an SA geological team will be allowed access to determine mining potential.
  
  2) Amber Zone: Mining will be allowed with restrictions applying (unsure of full restriction criteria, but will involve an exclusion period of 10-20 weeks per year).
  
  3) Green Zone: Mining will be allowed with restrictions applying (unsure of full restriction criteria, but will involve an exclusion period of up to 8 weeks per year).

BHP Billiton’s Olympic Dam boss Dean Dalla Valle will give an update on the project at a corporate function in Adelaide in the week ahead ...

President of the uranium customer sector group at BHP Billiton Dean Dalla Valle will provide an update on the progress of the miner’s Olympic Dam project at an AMCHAM luncheon in Adelaide (Friday).

Concern at pace of mine approval
Russell Emerson
From: The Advertiser May 08, 2011 11:30PM

There are concerns the State Government will ram through approval of its $20 billion expansion. The latest version of the Olympic Dam expansion is likely to be released publicly on Thursday or Friday.

Concerns have been raised that the State Government will ram through approval of the $20 billion project on the same day the latest environmental impact statement is released - leaving no room for public consultation.

Greens MP Mark Parnell fears the public will have no chance to comment on what is expected to become the world's largest open-cut mine, if approved by BHP Billiton and the Government.

He said the State Government had a track record of approving projects on the same day supplementary environmental impact statements were released.

"Members should look no further than the Port Stanvac desalination plant and the Buckland Park development to see that the Government often releases these important documents at the same time it announces its approval, thereby making any further comment or feedback redundant," Mr Parnell told Parliament.

A spokesman for Kevin Foley, who is the Minister Assisting the Premier in the Olympic Dam Expansion Project, said the Government had not approved the project and denied it would issue approval on the day.

He said the Government would do "everything by the book" in recognition of the project's immense impact on the state's future.

The State Government said it would undertake a "full and rigorous" analysis of the project.

It said it expected a decision would be made by the end of September.

THE State Government is in talks with Chinese firms to fund "billions of dollars" of bulk ports infrastructure.

Infrastructure Minister Patrick Conlon told the Property Council's Invest SA conference that a trip to China last month was focused on solving an impasse between a State Government not wanting to underwrite new ports to process mining exports and a private sector yet to find a working funding model.

"The primary reason we were in China was to talk with firms who will become partners in the building of that infrastructure," he said.

"We have a number of sites but don't have the investment so we spoke to three different firms who are interested in building a deep sea port with Australian partners and ... the associated townships.

"We have very consciously been working to get at least one, perhaps two, deep sea bulk ports over at Eyre Peninsula.

"I think one of them will at least get up in the medium to short term period, but what we are talking about here is billions of dollars of infrastructure investment and that is success in itself."

Mr Conlon expressed amazement at the breadth of vision outlined by the Chinese firms but a government spokesman yesterday said it was "too early to be talking details".

Mining companies are increasingly looking for deep water ports without the travel costs of exporting from Port Adelaide.

The growth of mining operations on the Eyre Peninsula - and its proximity to the large miners in South Australia's centre - has raised the prospect of the area serving as a major export gateway.

IronClad Mining last week announced a compromise - a floating harbour 10km out from Lucky Bay at Cowell to serve as a "half-way point" to load deep sea vessels.

Flinders Ports and its joint venture partner Leighton Holdings are waiting on the State Government to respond to a proposal to develop a new deep water port at Port Bonython near Whyalla, which would involve building a 3km jetty over two years, requiring 400 workers.

Iron ore miner Centrex Metals won major development status in January for its proposal to build an iron-ore processing plant and a $150 million deep water port at Sheep Hill, 65km north of Port Lincoln.

UrbanSG wrote:Supplementary ODX EIS now on BHP website (lots of reading):

http://www.bhpbilliton.com/bb/odxEis/downloads.jsp

$45.7bn for SA over first 30 years of BHP Billiton's Olympic Dam expansion
Russell Emmerson From: The Advertiser May 13, 2011 2:08PM

AN EXPANDED Olympic Dam will channel $45.7 billion into the state over its first 30 years, BHP Billiton says.

Its Supplementary Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS), released today, outlines the project's key impacts on the state, including its economic impact.

The company says:

•ADELAIDE city will benefit by $24.2 billion over the first 30 years;
•ABOUT 13,100 South Australians will be employed full-time on average, peaking at 15,700 between years seven to 11 of the project;
•STATE Government will receive $3.4 billion in taxes and the Australian government will receive $2.6 billion.
State Government revenues could be as high as $4.7 billion or as low as $2.1 billion, depending on the discount rate used.

It did not, however, meet requests to outline expected commodity prices owing to the commercial sensitivity of those forecasts.

"The model predicted that this injection of capital into the economy by BHP Billiton would substantially stimulate the national, state and regional economies," it says in its SEIS.

"The economic sensitivity analysis ... demonstrates that the scale and longevity of the project would continue to realise significant economic and social benefits even if the demand for Olympic Dam products led to a slower than predicted economic injection from the expansion project."

BHP Billiton also outlined the likely SA industry winner from the project - road transport, which it forecasts will gain $2.1 billion in real terms over the first 30 years.

Rail transport ($570 million) and electricity suppliers ($730 million) will also win, with BHP contemplating a rail link to the site.

Local suppliers will be favoured where possible, the company says.

"As far as is reasonable and economically and commercially practicable, where price, quality, delivery and service were equal to or better than that obtainable elsewhere, BHP Billiton would use SA labour or, where this was not available, Australian labour," it says in its SEIS.

It says it will prefer SA contractors, consultants and suppliers where possible.

The company did not react to calls for its royalty rate to be increased beyond the current 3.5 per cent rate, saying this was a matter for the SA Government.

BHP Billiton has assumed SA taxpayers will contribute $100 million to social infrastructure for the region including schools, hospitals and police stations, but noted the SA Government had made no such commitments.

A LITTLE Dubai is to bloom in the Pilbara, with crown land to be given away free to property developers to build luxury high-rise apartments in the remote region as Western Australia gears up for a massive expansion of its mining boom.

Government Landcorp chief Ross Holt said yesterday the radical plan could be a catalyst for ending the chronic housing shortage and lack of amenities that have plagued the Pilbara and deterred people from living there.

"The government sees the land it owns there as part of the currency it has to bring about revitalisation and start turning these places into cities," Mr Holt told The Weekend Australian.

"You could argue that crown land up there is worth a lot of money because there's such a high demand for accommodation, but the government is saying that it's not looking at maximising its commercial return on land - it's much more interested in achieving high-quality development outcomes."

The comments yesterday coincide with the first apartment tower starting to take shape in remote Karratha, the epicentre of the resources boom.

Property developer Finbar Group said it was an extraordinary project and buyers were lining up to pre-buy apartments in the nine-storey building, despite an average price of $860,000.

"We're just putting the first floor on now, but what you'll get will be no different to what you'd enjoy in the city, with swimming pools, a spa, a gymnasium and even food houses downstairs where you can grab a coffee," Finbar managing director Darren Pateman said.

It's a far cry from the low-lying flat red-dirt townscape that has epitomised the mining strip for decades. The Finbar tower is three times the height of anything built in Karratha, and if pre-sales continued at their present rate, construction of a second "twin" tower with 178 units would start in months.

The $100 million first tower is the darling of the Barnett government's "Pilbara Cities" plan to transform the state's main fly-in, fly-out region into a series of cities where families want to live.

Lands Minister Brendon Grylls said the government had committed more than $1 billion to the Pilbara Cities over four years, including investment in new hospital facilities, schools and other infrastructure.

"The Finbar project is pretty symbolic of the changing face here; it is going to fundamentally change the CBD landscape of Karratha," he said yesterday.

"And it's not just Finbar; Pindan have got a large site where they're going to be bringing villas to the market, and there are a string of others too." More was needed to transform the region, bring prices down and encourage workers to move families there.

He confirmed the government was prepared to offer land for free if it helped achieve more high-quality development. "What we're saying is that land has a value in CBD development that you can use to leverage greater investment in the area," he said.

Mr Grylls said building access to affordable quality accommodation would ultimately determine if the Pilbara Cities vision was achieved, because people would not want to live there if the price was too high or there was nothing to do.

"Being able to buy a nice coffee, being able to get a good haircut, and having a brand new school for your kids to go to and a hospital if you become unwell - that's what matters," he said.

BHP Billiton releases details of its Olympic Dam mine expansion
Christopher Russell and Daniel Wills
From: The Advertiser May 14, 2011 12:00AM

BHP Billiton says opponents of the proposed Olympic Dam expansion should face rigorous scientific scrutiny.

Outlining key changes to BHP's plans in response to public and government concerns, the company executive in charge of the project, Dean Dalla Valle, said the mining giant was confident the science stacked up in favour of the expansion, which would be worth up to $48.4 billion over its first 30 years to the South Australian economy.

The most significant change to the plans is re-engineering the desalination plant proposed at Point Lowly, near Whyalla.

"We've done extensive research into our desalination plant," Mr Dalla Valle said.

"I think it would be fair to ask of purported scientists criticising the plant whether they've carried out the same amount of work, and to the same level of rigour and discipline."

The 100Gl/year desalination plant was the most commonly raised issue among 4189 public submissions to BHP's plans outlined in its 2009 Draft Environmental Impact Statement.

Yesterday BHP published its Supplementary Environmental Impact Statement on the project, which aims to address the concerns of the public as well as the federal, state and NT governments.

BHP wants to expand the copper/uranium/gold mine in stages over 30 to 40 years, creating a peak of 15,700 jobs during construction.

Once fully operational, the Olympic Dam permanent workforce would increase from 3000 to 7000 with a further 1000 contractor positions and 15,000 indirect jobs created.

Changes between the EIS documents include:

REDESIGN of the desalination plant.

CHANGING access routes to a barge-landing facility near Port Augusta.

EXPANDING tailings storage.

BUILDING a road from the proposed village Hiltaba directly to the Olympic Dam site.

Some concerns raised in the submissions were deemed beyond the scope of BHP to answer.

These included one submission warning the mine's open pit would would be visible from space and attract aliens.

The desalination plant attracted widespread criticism over fears it would harm the breeding grounds of the giant Australian cuttlefish.

To alleviate concerns, BHP now plans to tunnel an outflow pipe rather than cut a trench into the seabed - thus leaving the cuttlefish zone undisturbed. The discharge would be an extra 200m offshore, aimed at the swiftest current movements about 800m offshore.

BHP's studies show the currents - the prime method of mixing the desal discharge with seawater - is stronger off Point Lowly than at Elliston on the West Coast and often cited as a better option.

The Supplementary EIS will now be considered by the state, Commonwealth and NT governments. State Parliament will need to amend the indenture Act on Olympic Dam.

Premier Mike Rann said negotiations would begin in earnest to maximise economic, social and environmental outcomes of the project.

He stressed the State Government was not a "rubber stamp".

He refused to say whether BHP would pay the standard rate for royalties nor would he forecast the project's State Budget impact.

"Their job is to get the best job for the company and its shareholders. My job is to get the best deal for the state," he said.

"It's the biggest economic opportunity this state has ever had."

It needed to be viewed as a long-term project which was profitable for BHP and delivered maximum benefits for SA.

"That's benefits in terms of jobs, contracts and also benefits in terms of onshore processing," he said.

Opposition Leader Isobel Redmond said her party was very aware of the importance of the project.

"Whilst reviewing the document the Liberals will need to ensure that the environment is protected but have every confidence that BHP has the same aim," Ms Redmond said.

Mr Dalla Valle dismissed concerns BHP would have the upper hand in negotiations because it had many projects on its books while SA had no options on the scale of Olympic Dam.

"We don't think so. We do work very closely with the SA Government and for this project to be successful, it requires bipartisan support at the state level," he said.

He pledged to seek "a good, long-term, sustainable way forward for the project".

Analysts estimate expanding the mine will cost at least $20 billion but Mr Dalla Valle said BHP could not provide costs until the board approved the project.

He hoped the board decision would be early in 2012, but it was not possible to be precise.

"We need to see all the conditions and approvals that will be imposed on us, we need to understand them," he said.

"If we receive the governments' response in the second half of this year, we'll have a quarter to a half year to come up with our optimised proposal to present that to the BHP Billiton board for a decision early next year."

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TIMELINE

1975 - Olympic Dam mineral deposit discovered by WMC Resources.

1988 - Mine officially opened, production commences.

2005 - BHP Billiton acquires Olympic Dam.

2006 - Draft proposal for expansion.

2009 - Draft Environmental Impact Statement released.

May 2011 - Supplementary Environmental Impact Statement released by BHP Billiton's Uranium Group president Dean Dalla Valle.

By December 2011 - Commonwealth, South Australian and Northern Territory governments expected to deliver approvals with conditions. Negotiations on Indenture Act governing management of area - and royalty rates - continue with State Government.

By March 2012 - BHP Billiton board to vote on whether to proceed with expansion.

2012 - If approved, expansion of Roxby Downs, building of Hiltaba Village and removal of overburden begins.

2015 - Airport large enough to land jumbo jets developed.

2017 - Ore body exposed, mining begins.

SIZE, COST AND VALUE

THE expansion project will turn the current underground operation into one of the world's largest open-cut mines - a hole that will take more than four years to uncover and processing facilities that will take 11 years to build.

OLYMPIC Dam hosts the world's largest uranium and the world's fourth-largest copper deposit. It is Australia's biggest known gold deposit.

BHP BILLITON will not discuss the cost of the expansion until it is approved by the board. Analysts estimate the total cost could top $20 billion.

THE project will contribute $45.7 billion to the state over the first 30 years including $3.4 billion in state government taxes. About $2.6 billion will be paid in federal taxes - not including carbon tax.

THE project will give rise to a new rail line, new electricity and gas pipelines, a new village called Hiltaba, a new barge docking facility off Port Augusta, an expansion of Roxby Downs village, a new airport capable of handling jumbo jets and renewed activity at Outer Harbor and Darwin.

JOBS

THE project will create 13,100 South Australian jobs (full-time equivalent), peaking at 15,700 between years seven and 11.

ROAD transport companies will be the big winners with $2.1 billion of net economic benefits created over the first 30 years of the project. Rail transport ($570 million) and electricity suppliers ($730 million) will also win while the company estimates the Northern Territory's construction industry will gain an additional $68 million in economic benefits.

POWER

A COMPLETED Olympic Dam will use 5270MW of electricity at its peak - or more than 60 per cent of the state's current baseload demand.

A NEW desalination plant would be required, requiring an additional 35MW to be supplied by renewable energy through the National Electricity Market.

BHP BILLITON will build a gas cogeneration plant to capture and transform waste heat, generating 250MW, and is investigating a 150MW solar thermal array.

FURTHER power requirements would be supplied by a 270km transmission line from Port Augusta or a 600MW combined gas cycle turbine power station with three options to link to Moomba for gas supplies.

RENEWABLE options - including biodiesel, solar power and geothermal power - will be investigated over the next 30 years as they become available for baseload power.

AT ITS peak, Olympic Dam will produce 4.7 million tonnes of greenhouse gases each year - about 9.8 per cent of the state's predicted emissions, or 0.009 per cent of predicted global emissions.

DESALINATION

POINT Lowly in the Upper Spencer Gulf remains the company's preferred option for a 200ML/day desalination plant.

THE company has acknowledged concerns about the marine environment, including the Giant Australian Cuttlefish.

THE discharge pipeline will be tunnelled, rather than using a trench, and released 800m from shore to alleviate concerns about disturbing the ocean floor and choking oxygen levels with pooled brine discharges.

THE company has committed to stopping the flow of discharge water if pooling occurs.