South Australian miners 'defy global downturn'

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31 Oct 2009

The South Australian resources sector remains strong despite a fall in commodity prices and exploration spending linked to the global financial crisis, the South Australian Chamber of Mines and Energy says.
Addressing the organisation’s annual general meeting in Adelaide today, SACOME president John Roberts said the annual spend on minerals exploration in SA during the past financial year had still exceeded the state's target.
“New resources projects underway or planned for SA are largely of high quality, and therefore have some in-built protection from the full effects of the financial crisis,” he said.
Mr Roberts said there were a number of “outstanding” examples of progress during past financial year, including the launch of OZ Minerals’ $1.5 billion copper-gold mine at Prominent Hill, the start of mining at Iluka Resources’ $420 million mineral sands project in the state’s far-west, and advances in several SA geothermal projects.
“Despite the GFC, our South Australian resources industry is, for the most part, business as usual, demonstrating the tough and resilient nature of our industry in this state,” he said.
“With 11 operating mines and more in the pipeline, I believe our sector will remain the backbone of our state’s economy for many years to come.”
However, he said the industry still faced a number of hurdles.
“SACOME is working with state and federal governments to overcome difficulties explorers have in gaining access the highly prospective areas within the Woomera Prohibited Area. Also, the industry desperately needs a deep-sea commodities port in the Upper Spencer Gulf so that fledgling iron ore projects can progress to export stage.”

Source: Independent Weekly