BHP has gone cold on uranium mining at Olympic Dam

Where Olympic Dam is concerned, it’s the outlook for the main commodity—uranium—rather than potential investors that it mostly dislikes.

BHP Warms to Partnerships, But Olympic Dam Remains in the Cold WSJ 10 Dec 13, BHP Billiton Ltd. wants to share the love to get its $10 billion Jansen potash project in Canada off the ground. But the world’s biggest mining company is being a determined single when it comes to another costly development: Australia’s Olympic Dam…….

BHP’s reluctance to seek a partner for an expanded Olympic Dam project in South Australia may surprise as it’s stuck on the back burner, squeezed by low commodity prices and high development costs estimated by analysts at around $30 billion. In August last year, BHP said it would look for a less costly design for the Olympic Dam mine, which had been expected to bring in billions in tax dollars and create thousands of jobs. Up to now, it hasn’t announced any new plans for the site.

At first glance, finding a competitor to share development costs and risks with BHP makes sense. If they also bring in new technology then so much the better.

The problem for BHP is that a partner might actually want to get the project moving, even at a much-reduced scale. That would test BHP’s desire to keep annual spending below $15 billion in future, down by a third from last year’s bill totaling $21.7 billion. With uranium prices continuing to hover near eight-year lows, and several countries debating nuclear power in their energy mix, BHP can avoid such tough decisions by keeping full control of the asset.

“We like partnerships,” Mr Mackenzie told U.S. investors. Where Olympic Dam is concerned, it’s the outlook for the main commodity—uranium—rather than potential investors that it mostly dislikes. http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2013/12/10/bhp-warms-to-partnerships-but-olympic-dam-remains-in-the-cold/

Aboriginal concerns over proposed expansion of Olympic Dam uranium mine

21 Nov 13,  Mr Kevin Buzzacott, the President of the Australian Nuclear Free Alliance and a respected Arabunna elder will today take his concerns over the proposed expansion of the Olympic Dam uranium mine in South Australia to BHP Billiton’s annual meeting in Perth. Mr Buzzacott has been vocal in opposing the Olympic Dam uranium mine and the planned expansion. Mr Buzzacott unsuccessfully tried to halt the expansion through the courts and has now been ordered to pay court costs to the Government and to BHPB. At today’s meeting he will be asking whether BHP, the world’s largest miner, will be seeking to follow this cost order.

 “I’m an Arabunna elder and I’ve spent the last thirty years trying to protect my country and the water from my country from this monster mine,” said Mr Buzzacott. “Now I’ve come all the way from South Australia because this is so important for me, I’m getting old and this could be my last chance to get BHPB to quit to shut Olympic Dam down and leave the desert and us in peace.”

“All my life I’ve stood up for my country because that is the right thing, that’s what we’re taught to do. Now BHPB have a choice whether they’re going to penalise me, take me for the court costs, for standing up for my country – or whether they’re going to respect my rights to protect those sacred places.”

The planned massive expansion of Olympic Dam has been shelved because of low uranium prices and market uncertainty. The current Olympic Dam mine consumes over thirty five million litres of water day from the Great Artesian Basin from Arabunna country and any future expansion would increase pressure on water resources.

“Now you say the expansion is on hold well we have a right to know whether you’re going to try and get this expansion happening or not. I mean it doesn’t make sense to dig deeper when people are waking up and saying no to the nuclear industry around the world.”

 

“Our land is our life and we will follow BHP Billiton to the ends of the earth to stop this mine from damaging our country and draining our water,” concluded Mr Buzzacott.

Australia’s failing uranium industry

3 Nov 13 ACF has described reports of the imminent closure of the Honeymoon uranium mine in South Australia as further proof of the marginal and embattled nature of the uranium sector that highlights the need for an evidence based assessment of Australia’s uranium trade.

 The Honeymoon mine in north east South Australia is set to close following a write down in the mine’s value of over seventy million dollars due to a combination of high costs, technical difficulties and a collapsing uranium price as the market fallout from the Fukushima nuclear crisis in Japan continues.

The Honeymoon closure is the latest in a run of bad news for Australia’s uranium industry that includes:

Sustained losses and operational failures at Energy Resources of Australia’s Ranger mine in Kakadu

• The scrapping of plans for a massive expansion of BHP Billiton’s Olympic Dam mine in SA because of the ‘uncertain’ uranium market
• A fall of around fifty per cent in the uranium commodity price and larger falls in the share value of uranium mining companies since the Fukushima crisis began
• Attempts by Queensland uranium promoters to receive ‘royalty relief’ and public concessions even before making any formal applications to mine
• Projects stalled, scrapped or deferred across WA, SA and the NT and uranium hopefuls like Toro Energy effectively stranded without the necessary approvals or financing
• Increased shareholder anger over the poor performance of uranium companies like the Perth based Paladin Energy
• Sustained global scepticism over the role of nuclear energy following Fukushima – a continuing crisis directly fuelled by Australian uranium

“The uranium industry has long caused trouble, now it is increasingly in trouble. The Honeymoon is well and truly over,” said ACF campaigner Dave Sweeney.

“The sector offers low returns in the shape of jobs and dollars but poses high risks, here and abroad. It is time for politicians to stop accepting industry promises and start genuinely examining industry performance”.

The most recent independent assessment of the Australian uranium industry – an inquiry by the Australian Senate in October 2003 – found the sector characterised by underperformance  and non-compliance, an absence of reliable data to measure contamination or its impact on the environment and an operational culture focussed on short term considerations.

Uranium accounted for only 0.29 per cent of national export revenue and less than 0.015 per cent of Australian jobs in the decade to 2011. “Uranium mining is a high risk, low return sector that poses unique, unresolved and long-lived threats and does not enjoy secure social license”.

“In the shadow of Fukushima, and given the call by the UN Secretary General in September 2011 that Australia conduct ‘an in-depth assessment of the net cost impact of the impacts of mining fissionable material (uranium) on local communities and ecosystems,’ it is time for a comprehensive and independent assessment of the costs and consequences of the uranium sector,” said Dave Sweeney.

BHP Billiton executive puts on a brave face about future of Olympic Dam uranium mine

BHP ‘determined’ to push ahead with Olympic Dam but only after new mining techniques are thought through,   CHRISTOPHER RUSSELL THE ADVERTISER AUGUST 22, 2013  BHP Billiton is “absolutely determined” to find a way to go ahead with expanding Olympic Dam, the company’s top executive in South Australia says.

There were two key objectives for BHP in South Australia, asset president of Olympic Dam Darryl Cuzzubbo told a mining conference in Port Pirie.In his first public speech since taking command in SA, Mr Cuzzubbo said the priority was to make sure the existing Olympic Dam copper/uranium/gold operation was running at world-leading efficiency standards.

If not, he would have no credibility when asking the BHP Billiton board to fund the expansion. Secondly, the key was to make the economics of the expansion work. ”We are absolutely determined to find the best way to expand Olympic Dam that competes against other investment opportunities,” he said…….

Since being granted a four-year extension by the State Government on the indenture covering the mine expansion, BHP has been working hard at rescoping the project…….  There were three areas to be resolved he said – to work out a more effective mining method to get down 350m to reach the ore, to process the minerals at less cost and to split the project into “bite-size” pieces so it could generate revenue along the way.

The original expansion method envisaged spending about $30 billion but not reaching the top of the ore body for four or five years. HTTP://WWW.ADELAIDENOW.COM.AU/BUSINESS/BHP-8216DETERMINED8217-TO-PUSH-AHEAD-WITH-OLYMPIC-DAM-BUT-ONLY-AFTER-NEW-MINING-TECHNIQUES-ARE-THOUGHT-THROUGH/STORY-FNI6UMA6-1226701461277

Leave uranium in the ground, says Indian visitor to Roxby Downs

“Please leave the uranium underground” , Roxby Downs Sun  April 4, 2013,  Indian national Bhargavi Dilipkumar has a message for BHP Billiton; to leave uranium underground for it has done more than enough damage to the environment.

Bhargavi visited Roxby Downs this week with Friends of the Earth Australia to receive a first hand experience of what uranium mining was all about and be the voice of India protesting the uranium trade between the two countries.

She said she had been part of the people’s movement that is strongly opposing the building of an atomic power plant to be built at the southern part of India.

Bhargavi is an anti nuclear activitist from India who strongly believes that BHP Billiton should shelve its uranium export program and be responsible for the safety of the environment and million of lives back home.

She visited the Olympic Dam mine and tried to persuade BHP Billiton management to have a heart for the people of India who will suffer long term consequences if the atomic power plant was allowed to go ahead.

“Please leave the uranium underground,” she said.

“Don’t mine it because its destroying lives.”

Similar sentiments were expressed by German nationals Danda Petter and Miriam Ribbeck who had been part of a nation-wide protest to stop the construction of a nuclear plant at Freiburg.

They said the consequences of having a nuclear plant would definitely affect both Germany and France.

Vietnamese national Hai Levan said having seen the damage caused in Japan he would “fight to the death” to stop the building of a nuclear energy plant in South Central Vietnam.

“We can’t continue chopping down trees because it will cause flooding and harm our environment,” he said .http://www.roxbydownssun.com.au/story/1408776/please-leave-the-uranium-underground/?cs=1503

Australia’s uranium industry future – not looking too good

recent steps by BHP to cuts of its uranium program — from the delay of the uranium production expansion plan at the Olympic Dam project to the selling of a large Yeelirrie deposit located in Western Australia.

Recent Ranger and Olympic Dam issues along with various problems related to notable Australian uranium projects like Angela/Pamela, Kintyre, Oban, Wiluna and Koongarra, amongst others, have also caused concerns about the future development dynamics of the local uranium industry.

Australia’s uranium industry hits turbulence Mining.com, Vladimir Basov | February 8, 2013 Recent news from Australia raises serious concerns about the future development of its domestic uranium industry. While established players are exiting the market, others are lining up to explore new areas and have made some positive moves.

Open-pit mining operations at Ranger mine were terminated at the end of November 2012. To this date, Ranger mine was one of the largest uranium production centres worldwide with a total cumulative output of more than 100,000 tonnes of uranium oxide.

On Dec. 7, 2012, the operator of Ranger mine, Energy Resources of Australia Ltd. (ERA), announced that work on backfilling the pit had already started, with the first phase to be completed by the end of 2014.

BHP chucks in the towel on uranium mining, will focus on copper at Olympic Dam mine

BHP is now looking at less capital-intensive options for the mine, focusing on copper.

BHP shuts uranium arm; nuclear-fuel prospects dim
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/bhp-shuts-uranium-arm-nuclear-fuel-prospects-dim-2012-12-06  By Robb M. Stewart MELBOURNE, 6 Dec 12, –BHP Billiton Ltd. BHP +0.19%  has shut its uranium division, responsible for its Olympic Dam copper-and-uranium mine, in a reflection of dimmed prospects for the nuclear fuel.

The South Australia mine has been folded into its base metals division, the company said in a statement Thursday.

Protests against uranium mining, at BHP Billiton’s AGM

Uranium, LNG protests mar BHP AGM,    http://m.theaustralian.com.au/business/mining-energy/uranium-lng-protests-mar-bhp-agm/story-e6frg9df-1226526641056   SARAH-JANE TASKER, November 29, 2012

BHP Billiton’s annual general meeting in Sydney today was the scene of vocal protests against the uranium assets of the world’s largest miner.

Four abseilers managed to scale Sydney’s Convention Centre and hang two banners, one with the message, ‘Australian uranium fuelled Fukushima,’ in reference to Japan’s 2011 nuclear disaster. The other banner read, ‘BHP, Dirty Deeds’.

Police riot squad and rescue officers attended the scene in Darling Harbour, where about 40 people gathered to protest against the miner. Various groups were concerned by uranium, coal seam gas and James Price Point, the $40 billion LNG joint venture project which BHP has a minority interest in.

At the start of the meeting, attended by around 600 shareholders, a vocal protester shouted her protests against uranium from the back of the room, following an address by chief executive Marius Kloppers.

Police at the scene today told AAP they expected to charge the abseilers.

A Friends of the Earth spokeswoman said the first pair of activists had been brought down by a police rescue team and taken to Surry Hills police station. The last two had climbed back onto the roof voluntarily and had not yet been detained, she said.

One of the groups was distributing an alternative annual report, Dirty Deeds, which was distributed to shareholders. The report focuses on the uranium and copper mine at Olympic Dam, South Australia, and the James Price Point project in Western Australia.

South Australian Greens defeated in effort to prevent extension of BHP’s Olympic Dam agreement

29 Nov 12,  A motion in State Parliament moved by Mark Parnell MLC, Greens Parliamentary Leader, to block the four year extension to the controversial Olympic Dam Expansion Indenture has been defeated.

Ex-Treasurer Kevin Foley had also called publicly for the extension to be refused and former Premier, Mike Rann, said as recently as August:

         ‘We don’t believe there is a basis for an extension of the indenture arrangements’

“It’s not often I agree with Kevin Foley, but he is dead right on this one,” said Mark Parnell.

“We shouldn’t be extending the enormously generous concessions granted to the world’s richest resource company when it is abundantly clear BHP Billiton has no intention to start the Olympic Dam expansion for years.

“It’s in South Australia’s best interests to negotiate a better deal if and when the project gets resurrected,” he said.

In Parliament tonight, Labor combined with the Liberal party to defeat the Motion and ratify the 4 year extension.

On one of the most radioactive days in State Parliament for some time, the Greens also moved a motion calling on the Government to prevent the transport of uranium from Western Australia through our State.  Adelaide-based Toro Energy Ltd is proposing to mine uranium in WA and ship the material to either Port Adelaide or Darwin through South Australia.

“It’s bad enough that SA uranium is being exported to facilities such as the crippled Fukushima reactor in Japan and hence into the broader environment through contamination.  We shouldn’t be the conduit for WA uranium either.  In both States, it’s best left in the ground”, concluded Mark  Parnell

Great Olympic Dam uranium dream stalled by high Costs

High costs stall Olympic Dam BY: SARAH MARTIN, SA POLITICAL REPORTER  : The Australian November 14, 2012   BHP Billiton chief executive Marius Kloppers says the Olympic Dam mine will not be expanded until the high-cost environment in Australia improves, with the resources industry overheated by too much demand.

The South Australian Labor government yesterday granted the miner an extension until October 2016 to its existing indenture agreement for the shelved mine expansion, in line with the project’s environmental approvals…..   subscription only  http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/mining-energy/high-costs-stall-olympic-dam/story-e6frg9df-1226516169013