Antinuclear

 BHP’s untenable extraction of Great Artesian Basin waters for the Olympic Dam copper-uranium mine.

Jim Green, 26 Oct 24. BHP has had to move on Mound Springs protection issues regarding untenable extraction of GAB waters for the Olympic Dam copper-uranium mine, and an important Springs Study had now been released by SA Gov modelling reduced water extraction scenarios and affects on Springs & GAB waters.

A significant – if belated and partial – formal public commitment from BHP:

Milestone : FY2030 – cease abstraction from Wellfield A through switching to coastal desalination supply in partnership with the South Australian Government on the Northern Water Supply Project.

This partial win is a key if limited step toward proper protection for the unique and fragile Mound Springs of the GAB in SA, requiring:

is a key if limited step toward proper protection for the unique and fragile Mound Springs of the GAB in SA, requiring:

• closure of untenable BHP Wellfield A operations as soon as possible, that is warranted far sooner than by end of FY2030;
• BHP could prioritise and pay for whatever extent of water recovery at Olympic Dam to replace continued extraction from Wellfield A, which is projected to be run at 3.9 million litres a day ( Ml/d ) over next few years – about 10% of the volume BHP water take from the GAB;
• a campaign path to realise a phase out of the far larger adversely impacting Wellfield B operations that runs at 32 Ml/day, at least from when Northern Water supply becomes available at/after 2028 (this is difficult as BHP & SA Gov now think closing Wellfield A is all they have to do);
• a continued public interest campaign building on a lot of people’s roles and contributions over time…

an important Springs Study:

“Potential Impacts of Reducing Groundwater Abstraction from the Southwestern Great Artesian Basin: Modelled Aquifer Pressure and Spring Flow Response”

By Daniel Partington, Andrew Love, Daniel Wohling, Mark Keppel.

Goyder Institute for Water Research Technical Report Series No. 2024/01https://yoursay.sa.gov.au/84866/widgets/401081/documents/297652

see an extract from Goyder Institute Springs Study (at p.21 of doc & at p.31 of the pdf file, my bold below) citing the BHP commitment:

3.5 Output From the Modelled Scenarios Six experimental abstraction scenarios were proposed by Infrastructure SA to provide a spectrum of stimuli to assess the responsiveness of the aquifer to a change in abstraction volumes. The future abstraction rates from Wellfield A and B have not been confirmed, however there has been public commitment to cease abstraction from Wellfield A if water from the Northern Water project is available (see Olympic Dam Context- Based Water Targets).

October 26, 2024 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | South Australia, uranium, water