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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-03-25 Daily Xml
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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) (14:01): I seek leave to make a ministerial statement.

Leave granted.

The Hon. M.D. RANN: Mr Speaker, this government is working closely with BHP Billiton to facilitate the approval processes necessary to expand the Olympic Dam mine. The planned five stage expansion would make Olympic Dam the world's largest uranium mine, the world's fourth biggest copper mine and Australia's biggest gold mine. It would also create, according to BHP Billiton's own calculations, up to 6,000 jobs during the decade-long construction phase. Once construction has been completed, it is estimated to create an additional 4,000 full-time positions at Olympic Dam to add to the existing 3,000 positions currently in place, and lead to an extra 13,000 jobs being established across the state that are required to support the mine's operations.

That means that, when it is fully up and running, this expanded mine will support about 20,000 jobs state-wide for many decades into the future.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. M.D. RANN: The importance of this expansion to the state's economic future therefore cannot be underestimated, so it is critically important that we get the approval processes right. Such a large project demands a rigorous assessment process, including the environmental impact statement (EIS), which is required by the South Australian government, the federal government and the Northern Territory government. The South Australian government is coordinating a joint process with the federal and Northern Territory governments on the preparation and assessment of the draft EIS through our dedicated Olympic Dam Task Force.

Recently, all three governments certified that the draft EIS developed by BHP Billiton over the past 3½ years complied with the guidelines for its preparation. This is one of the important statutory steps in this process. As a result, BHP Billiton is now printing the draft EIS for public release. The documentation is extensive, comprising a main statement of some 750 pages and more than 3,000 pages of appendices. The size of the document directly reflects the scale of this project. This documentation deserves and demands rigorous scrutiny by all interested parties and the community, as well as the government.

Accordingly, at a recent meeting in Melbourne with the Chief Executive of BHP Billiton, Marius Kloppers, the Deputy Premier and I discussed the assessment process that will now apply to the draft EIS.

I am aware, and so is BHP Billiton, that there is some criticism from a number of quarters that there is insufficient time under existing arrangements for public comment and scrutiny of the environmental impact statement. This is a long life project—indeed, some people estimate well over a 100 years project—and we must ensure that the assessment is done properly.

Some South Australians have raised concerns that the proposed eight week time frame for public comment on the draft EIS was not sufficient, particularly given the sheer size of the documentation and the scale of the proposed project. I do not want there to be any unease amongst the community about the expansion project or any perception that the EIS process is being deliberately rushed to avoid scrutiny. The community needs to have confidence that the potential economic benefits of the project are not overriding our requirements for environmental protection.

This government has committed to balancing resource development with conservation, and the world's largest mine will not be an exception to this. BHP Billiton understands and respects this commitment and is working to ensure that its draft EIS report reflects this. In preparing the documentation, BHP Billiton has already engaged in very extensive public consultation over the past 3½ years. Nevertheless, we agree with Mr Kloppers that this next step in the process, where interested parties can provide their comments to government and BHP Billiton, must not be dominated by concern about the amount of time available to do this.

Accordingly, in agreement with BHP Billiton and the federal and Northern Territory governments, I announce today that the public will have 14 weeks to make submissions to government about the draft EIS from the time of its public release. Other parties have previously expressed concern that an eight week consultation period was not sufficient. The Greens have expressed a view that the public consultation process should be extended to three months, and the Liberal Party only yesterday called for it to be extended to four months. I would therefore expect support from all parties for the extension to 14 weeks (or 3½ months) that we have negotiated with BHP Billiton.

We have listened to the concerns of the community and, in conjunction with BHP Billiton, have found a solution that allows ample time for the public to read the draft EIS and provide comments back to the company and to government. Mr Kloppers has confirmed BHP Billiton's intention to publicly release the draft EIS by early May. BHP Billiton will ensure that the documentation is widely available. Arrangements are being made for online access and by very wide distribution of a DVD of the full documentation, as well as having hard copies available at public libraries and other locations.

In mid April, newspaper advertisements will confirm these arrangements, including dates for a series of public meetings convened by government to enable interested members of the public to seek further information about the draft EIS. In South Australia, these meetings will be held in Adelaide, Port Augusta, Whyalla and Roxby Downs.

It has been suggested that the draft EIS could be made available to the public now. This misunderstands the process. Following the recent certification of the federal, South Australian and Northern Territory governments that the documentation does comply with the guidelines and can be publicly released, BHP Billiton was able to proceed with its printing. BHP Billiton will release it very soon after it is available from the printers.

The extended public consultation period will mean that the government's decisions on the project are unlikely to be made before the middle of next year. This may be later, depending on the extent of public and government responses to the draft EIS. Assuming a favourable assessment, a decision on the expansion can then be made by the BHP Billiton board.

While the environmental assessment process is continuing, the South Australian government and BHP Billiton will continue renegotiation of the indenture agreement to reflect the project proposed in the EIS. In our discussion, Mr Kloppers assured me that BHP Billiton remains committed to the long-term development of Olympic Dam. I can assure the house that BHP Billiton did not purchase the Olympic Dam mine to leave it as a car park in the desert. This mine has an estimated life conservatively of at least 70 years.

At the completion of the expansion, according to BHP Billiton's own figures, the combined open pit and underground mine will produce an estimated 750,000 tonnes of copper per year, 19,000 tonnes of uranium oxide per year, 800,000 ounces of gold and 2.9 million ounces of silver. It will be one of the greatest mines in world history and certainly one of the richest.

Mr Hamilton-Smith: Why did you oppose it?

The Hon. M.D. RANN: Members opposite might consider that the Olympic Dam expansion is some kind of mirage in the desert, but we have been working tirelessly to ensure that this project goes ahead. We are pro mining, pro growth and pro environment at the same time. That is why this government remains—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. M.D. RANN: —totally committed to coordinating the approvals processes and negotiating the indenture agreement required for the project to proceed.

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