Negative investor sentiment delaying expansion of Olympic Dam uranium mine?
the $10 billion initial expansion of Olympic Dam may be stretched out over a longer period, analysts and investors said….. BHP would have to seek an extension from the South Australian state government if it fails to commit to the Olympic Dam project by December, or else it would lose its approvals for the project….
BHP may delay at least two mega projects to rein in spending, By Sonali Paul MELBOURNE May 17 (Reuters) – BHP Billiton, the world’s biggest miner, is likely to delay signing off on at least two mega projects after its chairman put the brakes on an $80 billion plan to grow the company’s iron ore, copper and energy operations, analysts say.
Slumping commodity prices and escalating costs have squeezed cash flows, pushing BHP to join rival Rio Tinto in reconsidering the pace of their long-term expansion in countries such as Australia and Canada. “The major message is: ‘We can’t approve anything right now. We don’t have a spare cent to spend,'” UBS analyst Glyn Lawcock said.
In BHP’s bleakest outlook yet, Chairman Jacques Nasser said on Wednesday the company expects commodity markets to deteriorate further and that investors have lost confidence in the longer-term health of the global economy. Continue reading
Despite government support, Olympic Dam expansion might not be economic for BHP
BHP cuts spending on major projects, Adelaide Now, Julian Swallow And Cameron England May 16, 2012 BHP Billiton has backed away from a commitment to spend $80 billion on 
major projects over the next five years, including the
Olympic Dam mine expansion. The miner said yesterday it would make a decision on the $25 billion Olympic Dam expansion by the end of the year but made it clear that its key assets globally would be competing for funds.
BHP had previously announced an $80 billion fund, but chairman Jac Nasser said this figure had been reconsidered.
“When (CEO Marius Kloppers) talked about that $80 billion … the environment was different,” Mr Nasser said….. BHP has already started spending $1.2 billion earmarked to kick-start the Olympic Dam expansion, which will eventually involve the company digging a 4km-long, 1km-deep, open-cut copper, gold and uranium mine in the state’s Far North. Continue reading
Adelaide schoolchidren becoming skilled in solar and wind technologies
Students full of renewable energy Adelaide Now, Clare Peddie May 16, 2012 SCHOOL students are learning about renewable energy through Australia’s first mini wind turbine trial at West Beach. The State Government, with the West Beach Trust, is testing four different turbines for 12 months. The power output is compared to a 6kW solar system nearby, with all the data displayed online.
Yester- day the Royal Institution of Australia launched a Wind Technology Education Package, with funding from the West Beach branch of Bendigo Bank, to help students in Years 7-10 get in on the act. The package covers practical applications, optimal locations and uses of wind turbines. Students from West Beach Primary School and Henley High School were the first to use the package, conducting hands-on activities at the site of the mini wind turbine trial. Students built and tested a model wind turbine and learned what designs worked best….
http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/students-full-of-renewable-energy/story-e6frea83-1226358260038
High Court rules for Aboriginal land rights, against South Australian govt
In December, the South Australian Supreme Court found Ms Portolesi had denied landowners “procedural fairness” by ignoring for seven months a request for authority over land at Lake Torrens in the state’s mid-north. On the same day she responded to their request, she approved a mining company’s application to disturb a site of significance.
SA Labor’s land rights appeal rejected BY: SARAH MARTIN From: The Australian May 12, 2012 THE High Court has thrown out an appeal by the South Australian Labor government against Aboriginal landowners, deeming it not to be in the public interest. Continue reading
South Australian government backing miners, bankrupting Aboriginals with legal costs
State seeks day in High Court over land rights, BY:SARAH MARTIN, SA POLITICAL REPORTER The Australian May 11, TRADITIONAL owners have warned that a government High Court challenge over land rights in South Australia’s mid-north could send them bankrupt.
In the High Court today, the South Australian Labor government will appeal to have a finding against it overturned. Lawyers will seek costs of up to $300,000 from the Adnyamathantha Traditional Lands Association.
The South Australian Supreme Court ruled in December that former Aboriginal affairs minister Grace Portolesi had “deprived the traditional owners of the opportunity to protect and preserve their heritage” by failing to respond to a request for authority over their land at Lake Torrens, about 345km north of Adelaide.
The court found the government ignored the request from traditional owners for control over the land for about seven months.
However, on the same day Ms Portolesi responded to their request expressing “concerns” over the application, she approved the destruction of significant cultural sites on the land by a mining company, Straits Exploration.
Lands association chairman Vince Coulthard said he was surprised the government was attempting to overturn the ruling and impose costs on the group.
“It could potentially bankrupt us, but maybe that is what the state government wants,” he said.
“I feel it is a mean attack on us, given this whole thing could have been avoided.”
The court found Ms Portolesi had denied traditional owners “procedural fairness” by authorising drilling at the Lake Torrens site while failing to respond to a request for a delegation of ministerial powers to the traditional owners.
Under the Aboriginal Heritage Act – which the government is now reviewing – the minister must transfer authority to traditional owners if requested……..
The High Court will consider today whether it will accept the state’s application for a hearing. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/indigenous/state-seeks-day-in-high-court-over-land-rights/story-fn9hm1pm-1226352471154
BHP Billiton putting Olympic Dam expansion on the back burner
Australia’s Copper and Mining Hopes Expected to be Staggered, Resource Investing News, By Shihoko Goto, 11 May 12 “…..Earlier this month, both Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton suggested that they are reconsidering investment plans in an effort to lower risks amid rising costs and uncertain demand. Greater pressure from governments, particularly in developing countries, to tax mining companies as resource nationalism rises worldwide is also a concern……..
BHP’s head of aluminum, nickel, and corporate development, Alberto Calderon, said that the company will be staggering its expenditure in order to match its cash flows – which could slow down the development of mega-projects, including its Olympic Dam copper-uranium project – so as to maximize value, reduce risk, and balance short- as well as longer-term returns.
The Olympic Dam project has been slated to be taken to the board for approval this year, but BHP has stated that is will “live within its means.” Still, it is unlikely that the Olympic Dam project will remain a priority for BHP Billiton…. : http://resourceinvestingnews.com/36093-australias-copper-and-mining-hopes-expected-to-be-staggered.html#ixzz1ubSgvacP
Honeymoon uranium mine ‘not economic’ says Mitsui trading company
Mitsui pulls out of Honeymoon mine, BY: BARRY FITZGERALD The Australian May 10, 2012 JAPANESE
trading house Mitsui is pulling out of Australia’s newest uranium mine, the 340 tonnes a year Honeymoon operation in South Australia’s outback….. Mitsui took up its stake in Honeymoon in 2008. It was a first for the trading house, adding uranium to its better known portfolio of oil, coal and global liquefied natural gas interests.
Honeymoon started production in 2010 after expenditure of $138 million, with Mitsui’s entry cost being a $104m contribution to the capital cost. Its annual production makes it the smallest of Australia’s uranium mines behind ERA’s Ranger mine in Kakadu, BHP Billiton’s Olympic Dam in South Australia and Heathgate’s Beverley
mine in South Australia.
Mitsui’s exit follows the one-year anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami, which led to meltdowns at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan. But a Mitsui spokesman said the decision to exit Honeymoon was not directly related to the Fukushima tragedy.
Mitsui “could not foresee sufficient economic return from the project”, he said.
Woomera,South Australia – the leading state for bomb testing and uranium mining
Vast weapons test site set for mining By Tom Nightingale ABC Radio Sydney May 04, 2012 The Defence Department is changing access rules for mining companies in the potentially-lucrative Woomera weapons testing area.
The vast region in outback South Australia is used for sophisticated and secret weapons testing, but is also estimated to have tens of billions of dollars of uranium, copper, gold, iron ore and coal. A temporary agreement is being negotiated, while legislation for the longer term is set to go before Federal Parliament….
.. “The Gawler Craton is a geological anomaly that we think holds vast reserves of uranium, copper and gold. In terms of copper, about 70 per cent of Australia’s copper reserves are in the WPA, about 40 per cent of world’s uranium reserves are in Olympic Dam. We think there is more in WPA,” Mr Koutsantonis said.
Now they’re trying to blame the Australian govt for doubts about Olympic Dam’s future
You have to sorta scour the news, to realise that the BHP board has not yet decided to go ahead with the new monster Olympic Dam uranium mine. The decision delay is due to the massive cost of the massive project – which won’t make any money for decades.
However – let’s all pounce on the Australian government’s budget plans as the cause of the delay. (Let’s just forget that the project benefits from all sorts og government exemptions, including the new Mining Resources Tax)
Diesel rebate may delay Olympic Dam Sun Herald, by: By Christopher Russell AdelaideNow May 03, 2012 BHP Billiton could be forced to delay expansion of the Olympic Dam mine if the Federal Government scraps its diesel fuel rebate in next week’s Budget, investment analysts say.
The company hinted at an investors’ conference in Sydney yesterday that another major project, at Port Hedland in WA, would be funded before Olympic Dam. Analysts at the conference said a fuel tax change could make the
difference and cause a delay to Olympic Dam….. http://www.heraldsun.com.au/business/diesel-rebate-may-delay-olympic-dam/story-fn7j19iv-1226345385388
Australia’s Renewable Energy Target driving new wind farm projects in S.A. and NSW
the first major PPA for new build wind farm for several years that has been driven by the renewable energy target
Wind energy finally taking off again in Australia, REneweconomy, By Sophie Vorrath 2 May 2012 The Australia wind energy industry looks set to end its near three-year hiatus, as Origin Energy signed its largest ever power purchase agreement, Thai group Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Holding said it would be adding 200 megawatts of wind turbine capacity in Australia (to its existing 100MW) over the next few years, and REpower Australia prepared to launch a scaled-down version of a new wind farm in NSW. Continue reading
South Australian Government grants lease to (weapons connected) Four Mile uranium mining project
Four Mile uranium mine gets lease Adelaide Now, by: Julian Swallow April 27, 2012 ALLIANCE Resources and its joint venture partner Quasar Resources have been granted a 10-year mineral lease over their Four Mile project, ending months of negotiations. Mineral Resources minister Tom Koutsantonis said on Friday that South Australia was a step closer to its next major uranium mining development. However, no timetable or funding commitment has as yet been made by the venture partners, who remain locked in a legal dispute…… Continue reading
BHP Billiton looking for more uranium in South Australia
BHP Steps Up Its Olympic Ambitions, WSJ, By Stephen Bell, April 24, 2012, BHP Billiton is a fully paid-up believer in the mining theory of ‘nearology’ if its latest Australian land grab is anything to go by. The Anglo-Australian miner has tabled applications for exploration licenses covering more than 10,000 square kilometers in arid regions surrounding the huge Olympic Dam copper-gold–uranium mine in South Australia state……
BHP is expected to make a decision this year on whether to proceed with an expansion at Olympic Dam, a project analysts estimate could cost close to US$30 billion. Continue reading
BHP’s Olympic Dam mine expansion might not go ahead anyway
Acting chief executive of the South Australian Chamber of Mines and Energy Nigel Long said the state’s mining industry was not solely reliant on the expansion of Olympic Dam because there were other “exciting opportunities” ahead,
“The decision to press the pause button is a decision to be made by the BHP board, but we see a very good future for other projects in South Australia regardless…..
The BHP board will be considering whether to approve the project at a time when cost pressures in Australian mining are rising and profit margins are contracting.
BHP has Olympic hurdles to overcome, Financial Review 17 APR 2012 The South Australian government says it is not inclined to grant BHP Billiton an extension on an approvals expiring in December that cover the $US20 billion expansion of the Olympic Dam mine at this stage. Jamie Freed and Lucille Keen
“They’d need a ministerial exemption to continue those approvals,” the state’s Minister for Natural Resources Tom Koutsantonis told ABC Radio South Australia yester day. “Thus far I’ve seen nothing that would incline me to grant an exten sion.”
His comments followed a report in The Australian Financial Review on Saturday that BHP was weighing whether to hit the pause button on the project amid a weaker outlook for commodities, industry-wide cost inflation, added government imposts and pressure from shareholders to return more cash.
BHP’s largest shareholder, Black- Rock, has lowered its stake in the miner’s Australian arm from 5.7 percent to 4.99 per cent over the past six months, according to US regulatory filings. “BlackRock are realising BHP are going to press the button on Olympic Dam so they are getting out,” Continue reading
Port Augusta South Australia ideal for a renewable energy revolution
Repowering Port Augusta With Solar And Wind – Blueprint http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=3171 by Energy Matters 20 April 12, Non-profit think-tank Beyond Zero Emissions (BZE) has released ‘Repowering Port Augusta’; a blueprint for replacing South Australia’s emissions intensive Northern and Playford B brown coal-fired power stations with wind power and solar energy facilities. Continue reading
One Aboriginal elder may hamper the plans of uranium giant BHP Billiton
LEGAL CHALLENGE OF FEDERAL ENVIRONMENT MINISTERS APPROVAL OF THE 
OLYMPIC DAM EXPANSION, Nectaria Calan, 31 March 12, Uncle Kevin Buzzacott, Arabunna elder and honorary president of the Australian Nuclear Free Alliance, is challenging the Federal Environment Minister’s approval of the Olympic Dam Expansion, on the grounds that various environmental impacts of the project were not properly considered. The case will be heard on the 3rd and 4th of April in the Federal Court, Adelaide.
This is an administrative challenge. If Uncle Kevin succeeds, the Minister will be forced to re-consider the approval and show that the contested environmental impacts have been properly considered. This may delay the project, and is well-timed in that the BHP Board of Directors are currently considering whether to proceed with the project.
BHP Billiton and the South Australian government have successfully applied to become parties to the proceedings. This means that they will be throwing their weight behind the Federal Environment Minister.
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