Australia mining boom sparks reaction

Heat stress and dehydration are constant threats for miners at the Moomba oil and gas plant in the Strzelecki Desert. Picture / Nick Squires

Rust-red sand extends as far as the eye can see, while in the foreground kangaroos and emus pick at a few desiccated sprigs of vegetation.

It's not much to look at, and in summer the temperature can reach a blistering 50C, but this is the epicentre of a resources boom binding Australia ever closer to the economic rise of Asia. All that breaks the monotony of thousands of square kilometres of sun-baked desert is a vast, futuristic-looking thicket of derricks, rigs, tanks and towers.

The Olympic Dam mine, an industrial island in a sea of scrub, is 560km north of Adelaide, the capital of South Australia. It boasts the world's largest known uranium deposit. Together with its two other uranium mines, Australia is sitting on more than 40 per cent of the world's uranium ore.

Hundreds of metres beneath the desert, miners working round-the-clock shifts to excavate chambers the height of 30-storey buildings, sending to the surface millions of tonnes of ore rich in uranium, copper and gold.

But it is not just the subterranean blasting which is causing shockwaves in the Outback.

A rancorous debate is under way in Australia about who the country should sell its uranium to and whether new mines, worth billions of dollars in exports, should be opened up.

There was alarm this week when a newspaper reported that Australian diplomats had discussed the possibility of selling uranium to India, despite the fact that New Delhi has refused to sign the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty.

The Australian said Canberra was looking at bypassing the treaty by requiring India to submit to inspections of its nuclear facilities by the International Atomic Energy Agency. The report was dismissed by the Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, who insisted there were no such plans. "Our position hasn't changed," he said.

The Government has said, however, that it is studying a landmark deal signed in March between Washington and New Delhi which would allow the US to export nuclear technology and fuel to India, in return for inspections and safeguards.

The checks would apply only to India's 14 civilian nuclear reactors and not to its eight military facilities.

"It would be unconscionable for Australia to even entertain the idea of selling uranium to India - a country which secretly developed and tested nuclear weapons, and refuses to sign the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty," said the head of Greenpeace Australia, Steve Shallhorn.

Concerns over China's possible use of nuclear material for weapons did not stop Canberra signing a deal in April to sell uranium to the Chinese.

The yellowcake will power the 30 new nuclear reactors China aims to build by 2020. The agreement, worth an estimated A$30 billion, was concluded after Beijing pledged not to divert Australian nuclear fuel into its atomic weapons programme.

But critics say it is an empty promise which will be impossible to verify. "Pretending that Australian uranium will somehow have a "kangaroo stamp" on it that will prevent it being used in nuclear weapons is ridiculous.

Uranium all goes into the same stockpile," Mr Shallhorn said.

Australia is walking a delicate line between courting China as a market for its plentiful raw materials, and upholding its traditional alliance with the United States, where the rise of the People's Republic is viewed with growing disquiet. Closer relations with Beijing have already led to friction with the US. The Howard Government has distanced itself from the American commitment to the defence of Taiwan in the event of a war with China, for instance. Australia regards China more as a partner than a potential adversary.

Most environmental groups remain implacably opposed to nuclear power, calling it dangerous, dirty and enormously costly. They say it leads to nuclear weapons proliferation, poses the risk of accidents such as those at Chernobyl and Three Mile Island, and produces highly contaminated waste which is difficult to store.

Cracks are appearing in the green groups' previously united front, however. The head of the World Wide Fund for Nature in Australia dismayed other environmentalists earlier this month when he declared that Australia was "destined" to expand its uranium mining.

Greg Bourne, a former president of BP Australia, said he would lobby WWF International at a meeting in London to try to persuade it to scrap its anti-nuclear stance. He described nuclear power as a Pandora's box that had already been opened and said Australia would mine and export uranium "whether people like it or not".

Opinion polls show the public remains deeply suspicious of the safety of the industry, with particular concern that nuclear material could fall into the hands of terrorists.

Despite having such rich uranium ore deposits, Australia has no nuclear power plants of its own - in part due to decades of lobbying by the powerful coal industry, which sees nuclear power as a competitor.

The debate is exposing deep fault lines within Australian politics. The Government of prime minister John Howard enthusiastically backs uranium mining. But the opposition Labor Party has since 1983 maintained a strict "no new mines" policy, permitting no further expansion. However, Australia's eight states and territories are controlled by Labor and at least one - South Australia - has broken ranks with the federal party and declared its support for uranium.

South Australia is backing a A$7 billion expansion of the Olympic Dam mine which will open up huge new reserves of uranium. Unlike the existing deep shaft underground mine, the new operation will be a giant open pit more than 3km wide and 1km deep.

"It's a huge body of ore," said Paul Dunn, vice-president of finance at Olympic Dam, which is owned by Australian minerals giant BHP Billiton. "In the last 20 years we've only mined the top corner."

THE new mine, due to open in 2013, would enable Australia to become the world's biggest uranium producer, a position now held by Canada. Geologists believe it will take at least 70 years to exhaust its four billion tonnes of ore. Uranium mining in Australia is undergoing a renaissance thanks to the economic rise of China and India and the huge amount of electricity they will require. The industry also sees an opportunity for growth as a result of efforts to reduce the burning of fossil fuels and the greenhouse gases which cause global warming. "We are going to have to shift to nuclear as much as we can," said Patrick Mutz, general manager of South Australia's other uranium mine, Beverley.

As for the safety of nuclear power, the industry says it is much more strictly regulated than in the past.

"If handled according to international standards, uranium is safe and a zero emissions producer," said Ted Tyne, director of mineral resources for South Australia's department of primary industries.

Environmentalists reject that, saying nuclear power is not a solution to climate change. They claim that even if there was a doubling of global nuclear energy output by 2050 it would only reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 5 per cent, and that extracting and processing uranium requires huge amounts of power, which in Australia is provided by burning fossil fuels.

Instead they want to see greater energy efficiency and a big expansion in renewable energy such as wind, wave and solar power.

But in many ways they have already lost the argument. After years of controversy and hostility, there is a huge surge of confidence within the uranium industry, and the Labor Party is predicted to drop its no-new-mines policy at its national conference next April.

Olympic Dam may be in the middle of nowhere, but it will be central to Australia's prosperity and burgeoning ties with China for decades to come.

Life of heat, snakes and isolation

The mining of uranium and the other minerals fuelling Australia's extraordinary commodities boom is taking place in some of the harshest terrain on the planet.

Miners have to contend with heat, dust, isolation and venomous snakes to extract copper, gold, uranium, natural gas and oil from the desert.

At Olympic Dam there is a purpose-built town for the miners and their families, complete with swimming pool, cafes and clubs. But at other mines there is almost nothing and employees work on a two-week on, two-week off basis, flying home to Adelaide and other cities once their shifts are over.

The vast Moomba oil and gas field, on the border between South Australia and Queensland, provides most of Sydney's natural gas, through a 1160km pipeline. It lies in the middle of the Strzelecki Desert, a blinding no-man's-land of salt pans and sand dunes reminiscent of Iraq.

"There's plenty of snakes around, mostly browns and taipans," said a mining engineer. "If you see one just walk away and we'll deal with it."

Close to the plant, a solitary dingo gnawed at a leathery kangaroo carcass.

Dust storms reduce visibility to almost nil and heat stress is a constant threat to the miners' health. When they are not working, there's little to do but watch DVDs and drink. "We try to limit the men to six schooners of beer a night," the manager said. "Any more than that and they're not fit for work in the morning."