UPDATE: BHP Expects China Uranium Sales Within A Year
July 23 2009 - 1:56AM
Dow Jones News
BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP) said Thursday it expects to start
exporting uranium to China in the near future.
"Obviously, we see China as a growing market for us and we would
expect to have sales to them in the near future," said Dean Dalla
Valle, chief operating officer of BHP's Australian uranium
unit.
When pressed on a timeframe, he said the miner's Olympic Dam
operation in South Australia state will start exports to China
"within a year."
BHP has been studying a potential expansion of Olympic Dam,
which also produces copper and gold, since it bought the mine in
2005 as part of its takeover of WMC Resources.
Dalla Valle told reporters on the sidelines of a mining
conference in Perth that public submissions on the company's
proposed multi-billion-dollar Olympic Dam expansion close Aug. 7.
The company hasn't given an updated cost estimate for the
expansion, which analysts say could cost up to US$15 billion.
BHP will respond to the submissions and publish a supplementary
environmental impact statement, he said, adding that government
approvals for the expansion could be forthcoming in mid-2010.
However, Dalla Valle declined to be drawn on cost and startup
dates for the expansion.
It could be "another few years" after receiving government
approvals before BHP is "in a position to make a call" on the
timing of the expansion.
Turning to its Yeelirrie venture in Western Australia state,
Dalla Valle said that BHP is drilling to clarify the extension of
the uranium deposit at the same time as seeking government
approvals for a mine.
Construction at Yeelirrie could start in 2011, he said.
-By Stephen Bell, contributing to Dow Jones Newswires; 61-8-9244-4243; sgbell@bigpond.com