Ministerial Statement

OLYMPIC DAM

The Hon. M.D. RANN (Ramsay—Premier, Minister for Economic Development, Minister for Social Inclusion, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Sustainability and Climate Change) (14:05): I seek leave to make a ministerial statement.

Leave granted.

The Hon. M.D. RANN: Last Wednesday 30 March I met with BHP Billiton CEO Marius Kloppers and Uranium President Dean Dalla Valle, with the Minister Assisting the Premier with the Olympic Dam Expansion Project. Mr Kloppers advised us that BHP Billiton was announcing on that day that the Olympic Dam project would be progressed from pre-feasibility phase to feasibility phase. This is a step that will increase the company's already significant activity on the project. It highlights the importance of the project to BHP Billiton and their confidence in its future.

The decision by the company comes ahead of the release of the supplementary environmental impact statement for the Olympic Dam project, which will occur in the near future. Once the supplementary environmental impact statement is released, the formal assessment of the project by the commonwealth, South Australian and Northern Territory governments can begin. The government is also negotiating on the indenture agreement for the project with the company. Subject to these negotiations and the project meeting all regulatory requirements, I expect that the board of BHP Billiton will be in a position to give the go-ahead for this project by the end of the first quarter of next year.

This is a very exciting step in the development of the most important economic development project South Australia has ever seen in its entire history. It is already a giant, producing 180,000 tonnes of copper each year, but the expansion will see that increase to 750,000 tonnes per year when the expanded mine is fully operational—from 180,000 tonnes to 750,000 tonnes.

Independent economic analysis of the project's impact on South Australia's economy estimates it will add more than $45 billion to the gross state product of South Australia over the life of the mine. The company has stated that the project, if approved, will generate significant new employment opportunities for South Australia in terms of direct employment, construction jobs and additional flow-on employment across the state, and will see BHP Billiton invest heavily in South Australian businesses and services, especially in the Upper Spencer Gulf region of Whyalla and Port Augusta. This is a project which stands to benefit South Australia and South Australians for decades and generations to come.