Olympic Dam uranium mine waste pile – 6720 hectares,150 metres high
BHP’s Olympic Dam uranium mining expansion “……In all it will remove a 350-metre thick layer of overburden and the rock taken out will be transported to a rock storage facility that covers 6720 hectares and will eventually be 150 metres high. By 2050, when the mine has not even completed half its life, the pit will be 4.1 kilometres long, 3.5 kilometres wide and one kilometre deep……” – Robert Gottliebson, Climate Spectator
BHP’s uranium mine project will create a mountain of radioactive wastes
“This EIS shows the company has designed Olympic Dam to leak up to eight million litres of liquid radioactive waste per day. BHP Billiton plans to dump radioactive tailings on the surface and leave them there forever, rather than pay to isolate the toxic waste from the environment
BHP Final EIS & ACF Call to account for Olympic Dam’s international impact -BHP Billiton has released a multi-phonebook-sized environmental impact statement to support its proposal to make Olympic Dam the world’s largest uranium project, but the EIS does not address the risks that go along with Australian uranium when it is used in nuclear reactors overseas.
The Australian Conservation Foundation has challenged the company to re-do its environmental assessment to take account of disasters like Fukushima. Continue reading
BHP pushes ahead with uranium mine expansion: public will not be consulted
Time to move beyond talking: BHP Billiton.Adelaide Now Christopher Russell May 14, 2011 THE public will be engaged, but not consulted, on the Olympic Dam expansion, BHP said yesterday. President of BHP’s uranium sector, Dean Dalla Valle, pledged yesterday to continue talking to the community but said the company had to move on to the next phase.
“The formal part is complete,” he said of public input.
Supplementary EIS released for Olympic Dam mine ABC News May 13, BHP Billiton is today releasing its supplementary environmental impact statement (EIS) for the expansion of the Olympic Dam mine. The 15,000-page draft document was handed to the state and federal governments in December.
It contains the mining giant’s response to more than 4,000 public submissions made to the company’s first EIS, released in 2009.The South Australian Government is expected to make a decision on the development later this year.http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/05/13/3215970.htm
Australian government opposes any expansion of nuclear industry – Penny Wong
Wong said the federal government has made its position on the nuclear industry clear and it was also clear in opposing any expansion of the nuclear industry.
She said solar and wind powered energy should be considered, as should the potential for geothermal energy. “We do have these resources and we should use them,” she said.“We have an underinvestment in the energy sector.”
ENRICHING THE URANIUM DEBATE, Australian Mining, By Jessica Burke 9 May 2011“……Penny Wong recently warned South Australia against becoming involved in nuclear enrichment. The senior federal South Australian Minister and former climate change minister told ABC radio that enriching uranium or having power stations is “not the sort of vision I want for South Australia.” Continue reading
South Australian govt’s unseemly haste to push for uranium mine expansion
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.
Concern at pace of mine approval | Adelaide Now, Russell Emerson May 08, 2011 THE latest version of the Olympic Dam expansion is likely to be released publicly on Thursday or Friday. Continue reading
South Australia to be radioactive industries hub?
Christina Macpherson, 3 May 11 Today’s glowing uranium industry news for South Australia carries the promise of future developments. South Australia has long
been suggested as the location for a radioactive nuclear waste import industry. Could this be a logical extension of its nuclear bomb testing past, and its uranium mining future?
Today, Mineweb tells us: South Australia seen as China’s next mining investment frontier. A mining conference in Adelaide today was told that Chinese mining and metal companies view South Australia as the world’s next mining frontier.
While Sydney Morning Herald enthuses about opening up of Woomera to uranium mining
the area was estimated to contain..about 78 per cent of the nation’s uranium… “jolt to drive further development in the future.”[ says Premier Rann]
SA hopeful of mining in Woomera zone, Sydney Morning Herald, Tim Dornin, May 2, 2011 , South Australian Premier Mike Rann says he’s hopeful of a decision soon from the federal government to unlock the mineral wealth in the Woomera Prohibited Area (WPA).
South Australia putting all its eggs into uranium basket?
the proposed $21 billion Olympic Dam mine expansion as a future prospect……..”It is expected BHP Billiton will say yes in early 2012 despite the potential for recent developments to affect the future of Japan’s nuclear energy sector – then it would become the world’s largest mine,” the report says. “These prospects shimmer in the future.”
State’s future in mining just became brighter, Greg Kelton , The Advertiser, April 27, 2011 SOUTH Australia will one day be “a titan of the global resource landscape” but is fighting to keep manufacturing jobs, an economic report says. Continue reading
BHP’s Olympic Dam uranium mine the reason for desalination plant
Olympic Dam, South Australia BHP Billiton, the world’s largest mining company The most ambitious mining-water supply project, which includes the expansion of the associated mine—it will become the world’s largest uranium producer…But the expansion depends on a coastal desalination plant— —at Point Lowly on southern Australia’s Spencer Gulf. Four pumping stations will move water through the 320-kilometer (200-mile) pipeline, providing nearly 90 percent of the 83 million cubic meters (22 billion gallons) of water the mine will use each year for ore processing and dust suppression,
Australia Builds Desalination Plants and Pipelines to Bring Water to Mines, Circle of Blue WaterNews, 05 April 2011 To feed water-hungry mining industries, similar plans are in the works to supply drought-ridden regions of Australia and China. Continue reading
South Australian Premier STILL touting uranium industry
Progress toward Roxby mining expansion welcomed ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) Mar 31, 2011 Premier Mike Rann says a feasibility study marks a significant step toward expansion of Olympic Dam mining in outback South Australia. Continue reading
Monash University engineer shows the way to expand Olympic Dam without uranium recovery
The Olympic Dam Mega-Expansion Without Uranium Recovery.Dr Gavin Mudd, 2010 Peer-Reviewed Report for SA Greens MLC Mark Parnell and WA Greens Senator Scott Ludlam, Adelaide, SA, December 2010, 10 p (Download PDF – 591 kb).
“…….It is eminently reasonable to propose a process flow sheet for Olympic Dam which does not include recovery of uranium but still allows for copper, gold and silver to be produced… This report .. proposing a technically viable alternative for operating Olympic Dam in the next expansion which excludes uranium recovery….”
BHP Billiton gambles on China’s nuclear boom
BHPB will have to spend something like $30-35 billion on the project and dig up a rather large part of SA.
It will not want to wake-up, so to speak, in eight years or so after it’s spent the money, to find the China boom has evaporated.
BHP Billiton to bank on big boom | Herald Sun, 31 March 11, BHP Billiton is on the brink of a huge, huge bet that the China-driven resources boom will just keep expanding and be joined by the Indian-driven one.It will also make a huge bet that the Japanese nuclear problem will figuratively speaking blow over.
BHP Billiton’s coy silence about Olympic Dam uranium mining
Missing from BHP Billiton’s announcement was any mention of the fact that, by the time Olympic Dam reaches full production (and the time frame for what is proposed to be a four stage expansion remains highly uncertain) it will be the world’s biggest uranium producer…..
Silent on uraniumThe Australian Matthew Stevens March 31, 2011 “……. FUKUSHIMA’S nuclear shadow seems to have reached all the way to BHP Billiton headquarters in Melbourne, with the Global Australian yesterday confirming Olympic Dam’s move into full feasibility, but remaining cautiously mute about what that might mean for the future giant’s uranium production. Continue reading
BHP hastens to calm investor fears on uranium’s future
it was more likely BHP made the unusual announcement to calm fears of the Rann Labor government that international concerns about nuclear power caused by Fukushima could threaten Olympic Dam’s expansion.
BHP assurance on mine, Sydney Morning Herald, Barry FitzGeraldMarch 31, 2011 BHP Billiton has moved to dispel suggestions that the development timetable for its planned $30 billion expansion of the Olympic Dam copper/uranium/gold mine in South Australia is set to slip because of uncertainty about uranium demand. Continue reading
South Australian Premier rules out nuclear power and uranium enrichment
No enrichment or nuclear plant on my watch: Rann , ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), 23 March 11, Premier Mike Rann has used State Parliament to hose down the possibility of uranium enrichment or nuclear power plants in South Australia.Mineral Resources Minister Tom Koutsantonis and Olympic Dam Minister Kevin Foley broke with ALP policy this week when they made public comments in support of an expansion of the industry.Mr Rann told Parliament no companies had expressed an interest in building a nuclear power plant in SA.He made clear again his support for ALP policy on nuclear issues……..No enrichment or nuclear plant on my watch: Rann – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
Uranium conference in Adelaide hears govt enthusiasm for nuclear power
Key MPs back expansion of nuclear industry in South Australia | Adelaide Now, Christopher Russell and Sarah Martin, March 22, 2011 TWO senior Rann Government ministers have backed the expansion of Australia’s nuclear industry.Former treasurer Kevin Foley yesterday said Australia should embrace nuclear power. Continue reading
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