Antinuclear

Toxic spill might raise insurance costs for uranium transport from planned BHP new mine

it was unclear whether the incident would raise premiums for miners

By far the biggest user of the railway will be BHP Billiton, which, if it approves its expected expansion of the Olympic Dam copper and uranium mine in South Australia, will run a train a day from the mine to Darwin. ….. 

OZ Minerals’ insurance claim for derailment loss may face complication over pollution BY: MATT CHAMBERS The Australian January 02, 2012  OZ Minerals may recoup through insurance some of the losses from the up to 1200 tonnes of copper concentrate that disappeared into the Northern Territory’s Edith River last week after a train derailed. In an announcement to the stock exchange on Thursday, OZ said the value of the lost concentrates was between $US7 million ($6.85m) and $US8m, or about 4 per cent of its 2010-11 underlying net profit of $189m.

Yesterday, a spokeswoman confirmed that the company was in talks with
insurers about the lost concentrate. She said she could not comment
further because the derailment on the Adelaide-to-Darwin line that
spilled the concentrate cars into the river was still under
investigation by authorities.

On Thursday, after OZ announced the derailment to the stock exchange,
its shares slipped 2.9 per cent, which was followed by a 1 per cent
fall on Friday that left the share price at $10.01. A mining insurance
broker, who asked not to be named, said there was too little
information to make an informed guess on the outcome, but any ruling
that OZ had polluted the river could complicate the claim.

He said it was unclear whether the incident would raise premiums for
miners, particularly because many miners self-insure their rail
journeys.

The miner most affected by the derailment, which is expected to close
the railway between Alice Springs and Darwin for more than two weeks,
is OM Holdings……
By far the biggest user of the railway will be BHP Billiton, which, if
it approves its expected expansion of the Olympic Dam copper and
uranium mine in South Australia, will run a train a day from the mine
to Darwin. …..
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/mining-energy/oz-minerals-insurance-claim-for-derailment-loss-may-face-complication-over-pollution/story-e6frg9df-1226234407238

January 2, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | business, Northern Territory, uranium