Uranium mining expansion facing delay, warns analyst

Comment: Uranium Mine Jobs has lots of Ups & Down, Bad Times means No Jobs, The Mine Shuts Down when uranium goes down!!

By Nick Harmsen
Posted Tue Mar 17, 2009 8:16am AEDTUpdated Tue Mar 17, 2009 8:17am AEDT

A resource analyst is warning the global financial crisis could force BHP Billiton to delay a planned expansion of the Olympic Dam mine in outback South Australia by at least two years.

He has told a conference in Adelaide that the uranium industry is enduring a major shake-out thanks to the downturn.

Among an array of resources, Olympic Dam near Roxby Downs has the world's largest known uranium deposit.

The SA Government has long heralded a massive expansion of the mine, saying it will underpin an economic boom.

But the financial crisis has already claimed 85 jobs at Olympic Dam and an expansion date of 2013 is not set in stone.

Resource analyst Warwick Grigor forecasts a delay.

"Olympic Dam is probably going to slip by at least two years in its timetable, if not longer," he said.

But a tough credit market and a 68 per cent plunge in ore prices is making life much tougher for the once red-hot uranium exploration industry.