Olympic Dam approvals are perhaps forerunner South Australia’s long-awaited mining boom

The South Australian Chamber of Mines and Energy (SACOME) says the environmental approval announced October 10 for BHP Billiton’s Olympic Dam expansion project is “fantastic news and heralds the coming of our State’s long awaited mining boom. The project will bring huge economical benefits to South Australia, regional communities, and the nation as a whole.” A massive open-pit mine is to be developed to operate, for some time at least, alongside the underground mine, which is a world leader in uranium and copper.

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International Mining | October 12, 2011 | 12:28 am

BHP set for the mother of all digs as $30 billion Olympic Dam expansion is approved

Australia on Monday gave environmental approval for BHP Billiton to expand its Olympic Dam mine but set more than 100 environmental conditions on the uranium, copper and gold project. The $30 billion expansion of the existing Olympic Dam underground operation will create an adjacent open pit mine that would be the worlds biggest. An idea of the olympian effort required to construct the mine and the size of the undertaking is clear from the fact that trucks will haul overburden 24/7 for five to six years just to reach the ore body. The combined operations would mine 72 Mt ore per year and would produce 750,000 tonnes refined copper, 19,000 tonnes uranium oxide, 800,000 gold ounces and 2.9 Moz of silver per year.

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Frik Els | October 10, 2011 | 11:50 pm

More fuel on Australia’s carbon tax fire

The Sydney Morning Herald reports Australia's Gillard government has opened the week of the crucial vote on carbon tax by revealing that big fuel users such as airlines want to sign on to the scheme, while the coal industry counterattacked with a report estimating that the tax risks the jobs of 21,000 miners. The government's bid to boost the carbon tax comes as a new coal industry-commissioned report says the tax would force the premature closure of 17 per cent of existing black-coal mines in Australia, including 15 in NSW. Today the Australian Coal Association will release the results of an ACIL Tasman consultants study that concludes an estimated 27 per cent of employment in coalmining projects would be under threat with a carbon tax.

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Sydney Morning Herald | October 9, 2011 | 6:20 pm
UPDATE: Gold massacred again after hours, down $166

Gold has lost its safe haven status

Does gold's precipitous $300 drop in September represent a fundamental market shift? It is hard to argue with this statement: "Global stock markets are volatile, central banks have not regained credibility, inflation is still a concern, and trust in the markets has not been restored. Yet gold continues to fall... Gold has lost its shine."

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Frik Els | October 9, 2011 | 12:30 am

Debate over Keystone more ‘ideological’ than practical

As the US State Department holds its final public hearing today on the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, one observer notes that the debate between the pipeline's supporters and detractors is being framed in more ideological terms than in a manner that actually weighs the pros and cons of the project:

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Andrew Topf | October 7, 2011 | 7:19 pm

Rejecting Keystone would be a huge policy blunder: Graham

Senator Lindsey Graham, a senior Republican senator representing South Carolina, urged the Obama administration to support the Keystone XL oilsands pipeline. Graham, who was speaking at a political event on Wednesday, said that if the U.S. rejects the pipeline, it would be ". . . one of the biggest energy policy blunders in our history." The senator said that the pipeline has the potential to create thousands of jobs, and rejecting the development would have serious consequences for Obama's chances at re-election.

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Michael Allan McCrae | October 7, 2011 | 2:55 pm