BHP’s desalination plant a threat to Upper Spencer Gulf ecology
at left – the unique and beautiful Giant Cuttlefish faces extinction by the desalination plant
Green fears aired over Olympic Dam mine plans ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) May 20, 2011 Concerns have been raised about BHP Billiton’s plan to expand the Olympic Dam mine.A fishing group in Upper Spencer Gulf says BHP Billiton’s revised plans do not go far enough to protect the environment.In its revised environmental impact statement, BHP confirmed it will go ahead with a desalination plant at Point Lowly. BHP also plan to build an unloading facility to barge machinery further up the gulf.
Robin Sharp from the Coastal Homes Association says he is worried the region’s ecosystem will be in danger.”We’ve already got an invasive oyster up here that we believe has been introduced by shipping over the last 20 or 30 years, pretty much overrun the whole razorfish intertidal zone, so it will pretty much wipe out all the razorfish in this area,” Mr Sharp said.Green fears aired over Olympic Dam mine plans – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
The enormity of Olympic Dam’s planned nuclear waste mountain, and its cost
“………Mineweb has been detailing the enormity of this project of transforming a large underground mine into a massive open cut – particularly with there being a sterile cover of between 300-400 metres. However, the price for the development has escalated in the past eight years from original projections of about US$S3 billion, in itself a daunting figure for many mining companies….It has been long known that removal of the overburden and rock will create “mountains” in a landscape that is virtually a pancake. Now, Gottliebsen said the rock storage facility covers 6,720 hectares and eventually will 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 km wide and 1 km deep,” …”. Mineweb, 18 May 11
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
1 This month
Help Aunty Sue Protect Her Land and Sacred Sites From Destructive Rocket Testing.
.
Australians deserve the truth
about
AUKUS – https://aukuspublicinquiry.com/
PETITION – To: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and the Australian Labor Government
of the week – Australians for War Powers Reform (AWPR)
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity
