BHP Billiton Sacks Workers at Olympic Dam
The Sydney Morning Herald reported that BHP Billion announced more job losses to cut costs, particularly at the massive Olympic Damn project 550km north of Adelaide.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported that BHP Billion announced more job losses to cut costs, particularly at the massive Olympic Damn project 550km north of Adelaide.
Reuters reported that BHP has requested that the South Australian sate government grant it an extension of four years to decide on the expansion of its Olympic Dam copper-uranium mine.
BHP Billiton has formally set aside expansion plans for its Olympic Dam copper and uranium mine and has agreed to sell the Yeelirrie deposit to uranium giant Cameco.
BHP Billiton and Cameco recently announced delays to large-scale uranium projects; the uranium market is likely to see a higher prices and a supply deficit as a result.
Perth Now reported Mineral and Resources Minister Tom Koutsantonis said South Australia's Olympic Dam project will produce enough uranium to fuel a third of the world's nuclear power plants.
With a relatively small value of transactions to report, spot market uranium prices have remained stable over the previous period; however, one buyer is considering market entry, which could potentially exert additional upward pressure on uranium prices.
Despite the slew of significant events that have impacted uranium prices and resulted in equity market volatility, the 2011 uranium spot price has managed a decline of only 16.8 percent.
The Olympic Dam promises to be a considerable asset for Australian energy resources. It is considered to be the world’s largest uranium deposit and the enormous scale of the expansion ambitions are revealed in the SEIS which estimates that BHP will spend $30 billion to access the resource.
Mining methods have been changing. In 1990, 55 percent of world production came from underground mines, but this shrunk dramatically to 1999, with 33 percent at the time. Since the year 2000, new Canadian mines have increased the global representation of underground mines again.
Last week’s 16th session of Indo-Russian Inter-Governmental Commission has resulted in the extension of an offer from Russia for joint venture exploration and development of uranium mining within its territory and third countries, as part of moves to ease shortage of fuel for India's nuclear power plants.
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