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Federal government approves the proposed expansion of the Olympic Dam mine in South Australia

13 October 2011

Environment Minister, Tony Burke, says the decision to approve the project under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act followed a rigorous assessment. As a result, BHP Billiton will be required to meet more than 100 strict conditions over the life of the uranium and copper mine and beyond. These include establishing an offset area of about 140,000 hectares, biodiversity conservation and environment protection management programmes and a comprehensive compliance strategy. Under the planned $30 billion expansion, BHP Billiton will have a new open pit mine to lift ore production and infrastructure, including a waste rock storage facility and an expanded tailings storage facility, which will operate with the existing underground mine. The expansion is expected to create more than 13,000 jobs and contribute more than $45 billion to the economy in South Australia and nationally over the next 30 years. Mr Burke said the offset area was about eight times the projected clearing associated with the project.
Excerpt from: WA Business News (www.wabusinessnews.com.au), 10 October 2011