Sensational-Adelaide.com

Greens MP Mark Parnell says BHP Billiton should be paying higher royalties for its Olympic Dam mine in outback South Australia.

Mr Parnell says South Australia is earning a 3.5 per cent royalty from the mine, but a rate of 10 per cent is paid in Queensland, for example.

He says the SA rate should be doubled and the money put into a future fund, especially as the company plans to expand the gold, copper and uranium mine.

"Now with this proposed Olympic Dam expansion it's a non renewable resource, we need to make sure that the South Australian community gets a decent return for this investment if in fact it is to go ahead," he said.

"The best time for us as a community to negotiate with BHP Billiton is before the approvals have been granted.

"Once they've been given approval to expand their mine it'll be too late to then turn around and say 'By the way, can we have higher royalties?'"

Wayno wrote: I typically like the Greens, and agree 3.5% for mining royalties is a bit slim, but the timing of this proposal is woeful. Get the open-cut ODX up and running, then increase the royalty rate.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009 ... n=business

"Once they've been given approval to expand their mine it'll be too late to then turn around and say 'By the way, can we have higher royalties?'"

SRW wrote:

"Once they've been given approval to expand their mine it'll be too late to then turn around and say 'By the way, can we have higher royalties?'"

Perhaps that's why? I haven't the time to look up the relevant information, but does anyone know off the top of their head if royalty rates can be changed post-approval?

Olympic Dam ready for public comment
Article from: The Advertiser

CHRIS RUSSELL

May 01, 2009 12:01am

THE public will be able to comment on the South Australian economy's biggest project, the expansion of the Olympic Dam mine, from today.

BHP Billiton will release its long-awaited environmental and economic impact statement on the multi-billion dollar project at 3pm.

The statement is the company's blueprint on how it intends to proceed with expanding the copper, uranium and gold mine at Roxby Downs and how this will transform the state.

At more than 4000 pages, Olympic Dam Expansion: Draft Environmental Impact Statement 2009 is the biggest EIS ever undertaken.

READ THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT FIRST ON ADELAIDENOW.COM.AU

Public comment will be invited by the Urban Development and Planning Department from today until August 7 – a longer consultation period than normal.

Public forums with government and BHP Billiton representatives will be held in Adelaide, Whyalla, Port Augusta, Roxby Downs, Alice Springs and Darwin from May 25 to June 5.

Copies of the EIS can be purchased from the planning department and selected local council offices at $50 for the two-volume statement and $300 for the two volumes plus a full set of appendices.

BHP Billiton will donate proceeds to charity.

Howie wrote:

READ THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT FIRST ON ADELAIDENOW.COM.AU

UrbanSG wrote:It's HUGE..... there's too much to post

http://www.bhpbilliton.com/bb/odxEis/do ... uments.jsp

• * Copper - 35 additional mines the size of ODX are required to meet world copper demand by 2018 (ODX will be the 4th largest copper mine in the world)
  * Uranium - 13 additional mines the size of ODX are required to meet world uranium demand by 2030 (ODX will be the worlds largest uranium mine by a factor of 4)

Wayno wrote:...CO2 Sequestration - As a comparison
As a comparison, the Fed Govt is trying (cough - ahem, failing) to sell the concept that they can save the planet by continuing to mine coal en-masse and pump billions of litres of gas waaay underground - and magically keep it there forever! yeah, right - like gas won't leak out somewhere/somehow. I'll run nude down Rundle Mall at midday on a saturday if this technology ever works! and yes - not a pretty sight...

• * Desalination - i'm expecting an ongoing stink about this. A large-ish desal plant in the upper regions of the gulf, and near a bunch of cuttlefish. No desal = no mine!!
  * Electricity usage & CO2 emissions - ODX already uses 10% of SA's baseload energy, this will increase to 50% over time. Expect BHP to be under intense pressure to use environmentally friendly sources for their electricity (wind, thermal, wave, etc). Counter-intuitively, this could really push SA to the forefront in carbon-free electricity generation

• * Dirt & Dust - ODX will need special measures to avoid dust storms pushing into NSW & Victoria. The solution will mainly involve the use of water (not sure if it needs to be desalinated water for this purpose?)
  * Radiation - see my post above, not a big deal...
  * Native Flora & Fauna - again not a big deal, but they need to tick this box