Government backs iconic mining house

摘要

WMC Resources Ltd will invest a further 50 million dollars over two years in a major study to determine whether there should be a multi-billion expansion of its Olympic Dam mine in South Australia. State Premier Mike Rann said his government was giving its full support to the study, which will help WMC determine whether it should double the capacity of the mine at a cost of between 2 billion dollars-4 billion dollars by the end of the decade. "The potential for the Olympic Dam mine is huge," he said. "An expansion of this size could lead to the creation of hundreds of jobs and further growth in the population of the Roxby Downs township, which is already 4,000. "This would also help the State achieve many of the targets laid out in the State Strategic Plan, including increasing minerals production to 3 billion dollars and increasing minerals processing by a further 1 billion dollar by 2020.