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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-04-05 Daily Xml
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OLYMPIC DAM

The Hon. M. PARNELL (15:58): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Leader of Government Business, representing the Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy, a question about seismic activity near Olympic Dam.

Leave granted.

The Hon. M. PARNELL: On 26 March a magnitude 3.9 earthquake struck the north of our state. Geoscience Australia initially located the epicentre at about 10 kilometres north of the Olympic Dam mine. However, as the nearest seismographic station used to locate the earthquake was 286 kilometres away, this earthquake location is only a preliminary estimate. They did say, though, that this earthquake was unrelated to a series of tremors felt in the region over the last three weeks.

Members may know that mining-induced seismicity is an issue that goes back more than a century. When mining operations excavate rock, there is a significant change in the existing stress conditions in the surrounding rock as pressure is relieved or newly created, especially alongside changes in groundwater pressures. As far back as the 1890s in Broken Hill, an entire processing plant was swallowed up by a hole opened up by significant earth movement.

Due to the enormous size of the Olympic Dam expansion and the location of the mine on a fault line, it is in the public interest to have a much greater knowledge of seismic activity in the area. The latest tremors could be minor and inconsequential, or they could be a sign of greater activity in the future, particularly with the increase in stressors by the digging of the largest hole in the ground in the world.

I understand that located at the Olympic Dam mine site is a very advanced underground seismic data acquisition system. The problem is that, like most things connected with Olympic Dam, the data is never made public. Any data reported by BHP Billiton to the government is quite likely to be locked behind the restrictions to the Freedom of Information Act contained in the Roxby Downs (Indenture Ratification) Act. My questions are:

1. Does the government require BHP Billiton to report to it detailed seismic data from the Olympic Dam region and, if not, why not?

2. As the release of seismic data is of strong interest to geoscientists and the general public, will you commit to negotiating with BHP Billiton to ensure the public release of this data?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Minister for Forests, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Tourism, Minister for the Status of Women) (16:00): I thank the honourable member for his important questions and will refer them to the Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy in another place and bring back a response.

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