olympic dam

http://www.roxbydownssun.com.au/news/local/news/general/expansion-uncertain/1828434.aspx

BHP Billiton has broken its silence on the effect of the proposed new resources tax, warning billions of dollars in Australian expansion projects like Olympic Dam will be placed in jeopardy if parliament approves it.
BHP Billiton chief executive officer Marius Kloppers said on Sunday the governments proposed 40 per cent tax on mining companies above-normal profits had upset the apple cart.
Basically what is being proposed is that Australian mining companies will pay twice the tax rate of very major mining countries like Canada, Brazil, China so on, that compete for investment, Mr Kloppers said.
I think one can safely say if you pay twice the tax in one country that you pay in another for the same product then relatively speaking that the country will become more attractive.
Mr Kloppers admitted the future of expansion projects like Olympic Dam was uncertain if the tax was approved in its current form.
Well the uncertainty is in place, he said.
It would be very difficult to approve any of those projects.
However Mr Kloppers did not want to elaborate, at the risk of upsetting community livelihoods.
Were not going to come out, particularly while its very uncertain of exactly what will happen to make blanket statements about things that affect livelihoods of communities, people, employees and so on.
But Treasurer Wayne Swann has dismissed the mining bosses comments as threats and abuse.
If you are a shareholder ... I encourage you to make your views known to your companys management: calm down, get into the process and engage properly, he said.
BHP acquired Olympic Dam in 2005 and pending on the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), it has planned a $21 billion expansion proposal for Roxby Downs.
Weve been working very hard to develop the technologies to do that in a manner that is cost effective, capital effective and weve waited for the uranium market to show demand, Mr Kloppers said. Obviously we are getting very close to the end of that process, our EIS I think will finish in about 18 months time and this new tax proposal does upset the apple cart.