The two sides of the minerals boom

There are concerns about the amount of water the mines use and about....

  There are concerns about the amount of water the mines use and about rising housing costs (File photo). (AAP: Mick Tsikas)More money is being spent this year in Australia on minerals exploration than ever before, with an unprecedented 166 new projects registered in just the last two years.The South Australian town of Oodnadatta is at the centre of the activity, with helicopters flying in and out from dawn until dusk, ferrying prospectors on the lookout for new mine sites.But while the boom times are pumping money and jobs into remote communities, they have brought problems too.There are concerns, in particular, about the amount of water needed to sustain the growth and about the impact of the boom on the cost of housing.Flying over South Australia's newest and largest open pit mine, its enormity is clear.Mine manager at Oxiana Promininet Hill copper and gold mine, Mick Wilkes, says it is the largest fly-in, fly-out mine in SA.The hole in the ground is nearly a kilometre-wide and 50 metres deep and he says it has only just started.He says the mine will not be in full production until July next year, and will need more than 1,000 people to construct it.At the turn of last century it was opals that drove the mining boom to the middle of the desert, starting the township of Coober Pedy, which means "white man in a hole" in the local Aboriginal language.Now it is the worldwide commodities boom driven by China and India that is again bringing people to the middle of the desert in far north SA.Coober Pedy is the nearest town to Prominent Hill mine - only 120 kilometres away.Steve Staines is the Northern Regional Development Board officer at the town. He says there are another 10 mines in the feasibility stage in and around Coober Pedy."We're working with council at the moment, doing a review of their strategic plan, because so much is going to change in the next five to 10 years here and for the better, definitely," he said. "So things in Coober Pedy, economically, are really looking up. It's predicted that will grow to around 5,000 to 6,000 in five years' time."But the boom times are not without their complications.While it may bring enough players to make up Coober Pedy's football team for the first time in years, it is also causing headaches for the locals.Coober Pedy Mayor Steve Baines says the surge in housing prices is worrying some locals who are not earning the big money of the miners."It's negative and positive at this point in time," Cr Baines said."There's a rejuvenation of excitement, if you like, within the town. It's creating jobs and it's creating the economy to start moving again. "Houses are starting to sell, which is something that hasn't happened for quite some years now."But he admits it is a fine line between good sales and homes becoming unaffordable for local people who live there."We haven't received the valuer-general's evaluation on properties this year; we're a little bit nervous about what he's going to come back with."The problems are not just in Coober Pedy though. Houses are becoming harder to find in many parts of the South Australian outback, especially anywhere near the state's largest mine, Olympic Dam, and this is years ahead of a planned billion-dollar expansion of the site.The workers have already filled the nearby town of Roxby Downs to capacity and are moving in on the quiet opal mining town of Andamooka, 20 minutes away. It does not even have a council, but it is bursting to overflowing with people who are desperately looking for somewhere to live.Roxby Downs real estate agent Sharon Cadzow says accommodation in the town is nearby impossible to find."Our waiting list is 142 people. I'm pretty sure the list is longer at other agencies," she said."A three-bedroom unit will be about $330 to $350 [per week]; four-bedroom house, no pool, anywhere from $400 to $420."But South Australian Democrats MP Sandra Kanck says housing is not the only serious concern. She says the mining boom is putting unprecedented strain on one of the few resources more precious than the ore that is being taken out of the ground - water."Water is absolutely essential in the processing and refining that these companies do with their ore," she said."They need water for suppressing dust in mines, and South Australia has a huge problem with that."We have the issue of desalination with the Olympic Dam mine proposal that we have a desal plant at the top of the Spencer Gulf, but we would probably need half a dozen desal plants along the coast and huge lengths of pipeline, because these are going into very, very distant parts of the state." But Prominent Hill mine manager Mick Wilkes says the mine is extremely conscious of using water resources wisely, and that means making sure it does not drain the Great Artesian Basin (GAB)."We've identified a separate water resource, called the Arckaringa Basin, which is totally separate from the GAB, and is also totally independent of any pastoral aquifers, quite saline," he said."It's not suitable for stock water. It's not suitable for anything much else other than mining, so we think it's a win-win."Despite the pressures, mining trainees at Coober Pedy TAFE are grateful for their first job opportunity in years.Trainee Gavin Reid says the Prominent Hill Mine has brought opportunities he had not even dreamed of."I've just been working for the dole for the past nine years, in the Bungala Aboriginal Corporation," he said."Get a good job, get a career, excellent."But not all locals are happy. Anna Creek Cattle Station manager Randall Crozier says he is losing staff to the mining boom because he is not able to compete with the wages."We train people up from trainees into being able to drive road trains and machinery, and we get their tickets for them and we put them through courses that cost an immense amount of money, but they come along and they take them all off us," he said."You get a bit upset about that, and I know it's natural progression and you can't blame young people for wanting to earn the money, and I wish them well. Although they do swipe the butter off us."