SA:Greens call for local steel at Olympic Dam

AAP General News (Australia)
08-22-2011
SA:Greens call for local steel at Olympic Dam

ADELAIDE, Aug 22 AAP - The Greens have called on the South Australian government to
demand the use of Australian steel in the $30 billion expansion of BHP Billiton's Olympic
Dam copper and uranium mine.

SA Greens MP Mark Parnell said mandating that the company use local steel in a new
processing plant would provide a timely boost for the struggling Australian steel sector.

"Using Australian steel for a new processing plant at Olympic Dam would provide an
enormous pipeline of manufacturing work," Mr Parnell said on Monday.

He said it would also help ensure the economic benefits of the Olympic Dam expansion
were more evenly spread.

His comments came as BlueScope Steel said it would close two of its production facilities
and cut 1000 jobs as part of a restructure aimed at returning it to profitability.

The South Australian government is currently negotiating with BHP-Billiton over the
final details of the Olympic Dam expansion.

It hopes to have legislation to allow the expansion to proceed before parliament in September.

It is yet to be revealed how much of the ore extracted, from what will become the world's
largest mine, will be processed Australia.

AAP tjd/it

KEYWORD: BLUESCOPE GREENS

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