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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-02-29 Daily Xml
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MINING INDUSTRY

Mr PICCOLO (Light) (14:12): My question is to the Premier. Can the Premier inform the house about the development of the mining industry in South Australia and its benefits for South Australian workers and their families?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier, Minister for State Development) (14:12): I thank the member for this important question, and I note that the growth of mining and the associated industries with it has meant that your home city of Whyalla, Madam Speaker, has enjoyed the largest fall of unemployment of any comparable region in Australia, from 12.5 per cent to 5.2 per cent between the years 2003 to 2010, which is a remarkable testament to the effect that this industry and its associated industries are having on South Australia.

The number of mines, of course, has increased from four to more than 20 in over the past decade, and just last week I had the privilege of opening the new Hillgrove Resources mining venture at Kanmantoo in the Adelaide Hills. Over the weekend, I visited four other mine sites in the north of the state, all of which are engaged in major new development on top of their existing operations.

I think that is something that we need to remember. We talk about these four mines that have grown to 20-odd, but three of those four mines are substantially increasing their existing operations: OZ Minerals at Prominent Hill, OneSteel at the Middleback Ranges, the Beverley mine site and, of course, Olympic Dam.

The OZ Minerals operation at Prominent Hill is expanding, and about to start extracting its new underground development, the Ankata deposit, as well as opening a new very promising deposit at Carrapateena. OneSteel is transforming itself from (as the name might suggest) a steel producer into a very substantial mining enterprise. It already is a mining enterprise, but is going to double its iron ore—

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: —production over the next four years. I visited the Beverley uranium mine, which is on the cusp of development of its new Four Mile mine, considered to be one of the most significant uranium deposits discovered anywhere in the world, because of its richness, in the last 25 years. I visited Olympic Dam and, of course, we all know that this, when it gets the go-ahead, will be the world's biggest open-cut mine, with jobs for many thousands of South Australians.

These changes, though, are transforming the lives of individual South Australians. I had the privilege of meeting a young woman, who is a farmer's daughter on the Yorke Peninsula. She used to drive the truck around the family farm there. She is now driving a truck that would have trouble fitting into this chamber and doing a fantastic job at it. We have seen young people from the APY lands taken through pre-employment programs at Prominent Hill and guaranteed work in the mine.

We are also seeing the benefits of the mining boom extending far beyond the mine sites themselves, to suppliers and their employees. Just last week we opened up and expanded the Osmoflo plant, together with the member for Taylor, out there in Burton. It is a fantastic new factory, which is providing great benefits. We are seeing Santos take advantage of the work there to deliver its fantastic desal opportunities. But these opportunities will not fall into our lap; we have to grasp them. We will make sure that this mining boom benefits all South Australians as we develop these fantastic opportunities.

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