Derailed freight carrying uranium traces exempted from safety laws

The load of copper concentrate spilled in a train derailment at a swamped river in the Northern Territory after tropical storm Grant devastated the region earlier this week.The mining company concerned OZ Minerals, has been allowed by NT and SA governments to transport the copper focus without complying with Australian Dangerous Goods laws, the Northern Territory News reports.

The train was carrying 1500 tonnes of copper focus from OZ Minerals' Prominent Hill copper mine in South Australia when it derail in bad weather cause by ex-tropical cyclone Grant on December 27.Up to 1200 tonnes of the substance spill into the nearby Edith River, Oz Minerals said in a report to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) on December 28.

The copper focus from Oz Minerals' mine contains less than 0.008 per cent of uranium, according to the company's documentation, the Adelaide Advertiser report on Saturday.That equates to 96 kilograms in 1200 tonnes of copper focus the newspaper said.OZ Minerals says radiation levels are under regulatory limits and are monitor to ensure no risk to the workers or public during production or transport.

BHP Billiton approves $1.2 bn to start work on giant copper and uranium mine

BHP Billiton on Wednesday approved $1.2 billion in pre-commitment capital to start development work on its Olympic Dam copper and uranium mine, which analysts estimate could almost cost 30 times that much to develop fully.

The funds will be used to buy trucks, build worker housing and for additional items requiring lengthy lead times, it said BHP said it will not make a final decision to go ahead until mid-2012, after it weighs up the 150 environmental conditions compulsory on the project by the national and South Australia state governments this week.

Once fully developed, Olympic Dam would approximately be on par with the massive copper mines of South America, although it would take years before the mine came close to identical the output of BHP's giant Escondida lode in Chile.