Mining & the South Australian Environment

● Dan MonceauxDocumentary Filmmaker, Cuttlefish Country

Iron Ore from the Middleback Ranges, SA

Iron Monarch, Middleback Ranges

circa 1900

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Iron Monarch today

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Shipping from Whyalla in 1903

...& 2007

Giant Australian Cuttlefish

Bottlenose Dolphin

Whyalla's iconic marine life

World War II drives Whyalla's industry

Whyalla Shipyards (1940 - 1978)

SANTOS & the Cooper Basin (Moomba)

● South Australia Northern Territory oil Search formed in 1954 to explore.

● Commercial gas was struck in 1963

● Moomba gas plant established in 1968

● Pipelines to supply Adelaide, Sydney & soon Gladstone (for LNG)

SANTOS at Port Bonython (Whyalla)

● Oil was struck in the Cooper Basin in 1970

● Port Bonython was established in 1982 for refinery & export

● Over 1000 shipments since creation... BUT...

Port Bonython & the Environment

● 1992 - Major oil spill in 1992 (300 tonnes)

● 2008 - Hydrocarbons contamination in groundwater identified

● 2012 - Still no EPA prosecution for current problem

Olympic Dam - Copper & Uranium

● 1975 struck massive body of copper, uranium, gold & silver

● Western Mining & BP Australia joint venture, bought by BHP Billiton, June 2005

SA – The Uranium State

● Ore first discovered in early 1900's at Mount Painter & Radium Hill

● Radium was refined at Dry Creek, Adelaide (1920's, 30's)

● Uranium production commenced for military purposes during WWII at UK and USA's request

● Radium Hill mine established in 1954, with processing plant following at Port Pirie.

● Exports from Port Pirie & Port Adelaide continue

● 2000 – smaller mines Beverley, Honeymoon, Four Mile & others pending

● SACOME supports possible nuclear power future for SA

Mount Painter

Olympic DamOlympic Dam

International customers

SA's Uranium Mining Legacies

● Radium Hill mine workers' cancers attributed to poor underground ventilation and tailings exposure

● Port Pirie and Dry Creek processing plants forgotten until the 1980's, children played on and swam in radioactive tailings dams

● Tailings ponds at Olympic Dam are a growing, open air radioactive waste repository

● Myponga mine site, not fenced, sign-posted or remediated. Others?

● Contamination of Japan from nuclear fuel, distributed by Fukushima Daiichi Reactors (March 2011)

SA's Exploration Boom (on now)

● PACE Program - State Government subsidised drilling

● Drilling and seismic surveying is widespread, land and sea

● Miners now face water scarcity, power and infrastructure shortfalls

● Lack of infrastructure makes business here expensive

● Olympic Dam expansion was over-sold by politicians

● Projects relying on Olympic Dam have suffered

● New miners exposed to China Slowdown and global economics

Major mines in SA

Mineral Exploration Tenements

Petroleum Exploration Tenements

Sources & further reading:

● “Above & Below - SA Dept. of Mines & Energy 1944-1994” Bernard O'Neil, 1995

● “A Ribbon of Steel – Whyalla Surges Ahead”Sue Scheiffers, 1985

● “Mining in South Australia – A Pictorial History”J.F. Drexel, 1982

● South Australian Resources Information Geoserver (SARIG) https://sarig.pir.sa.gov.au/Map

● “Cuttlefish Country” documentary film, campaign & news websitehttp://cuttlefishcountry.com

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