May Day action at BHP Billiton - 1 May 2009
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On the day BHP Billiton released its long-awaited Environmental Impact Statement on the projected expansion of the Olympic copper/uranium mine at Roxby Downs, opponents of the mine broadcast a Mayday message at the company's headquarters in Melbourne...
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| Video information | |
|---|---|
| Produced by | pc |
| Directed by | pc |
| Produced | May 02, 2009 |
Full Description
From Friends of the Earth anti-nuclear campaign:
On May 1, BHP Billiton will release the Environmental Impact Statement for
its planned expansion of the Olympic Dam (Roxby Downs) uranium/copper mine
in SA. Come along to this May Day protest to voice your opposition.
* The mine operates under the SA Roxby Downs Indenture Act which exempts it
from key environmental and Aboriginal heritage laws that apply everywhere
else in SA.
* Billiton plans to make Roxby the largest open-cut mine in the world.
Export of uranium is expected to increase from an average of 4,000 tonnes
per year to 19,000 tonnes. In power reactors, that amount of uranium would
produce 2,850 tonnes of high-level nuclear waste each year and enough
plutonium to build 2,850 nuclear weapons each year.
* BHP Billiton proposes an increase in water consumption from 35 million
litres daily (from the Great Artesian Basin) to 150 million litres
daily (up to 42 million litres from the Great Artesian Basin, the
remainder from a proposed desalination plant at Port Bonython). The
water take from the Great Artesian Basin has had
adverse impacts on the precious Mound Springs.
* The production of radioactive tailings, stored above ground, will
increase
seven-fold to 70 million tonnes annually. The tailings contain a toxic,
acidic soup of radionuclides and heavy metals. There have been numerous
spills and leaks and large numbers of bird deaths have been recorded in the
vicinity of tailings dams.
See http://www.foe.org.au/anti-nuclear/
http://www.roxstop.org
