Broken Hill strikes it lucky with two new mine projects

The opening of two new mining developments at Broken Hill has cemented its future as a major contributor to the State’s booming mining industry.

The CBH Rasp Mine decline, which is a tunnel used to get machinery and men underground to sample the ore, was officially opened today.

Also today, the Perilya Potosi Mine decline, which is a development stage of this mine, was opened.

Early predictions suggest that the Rasp mine, if approved, will produce more than 10 million tonnes of ore over the next 12 years, and Perilya’s Potosi is expected to produce at least four million tonnes of zinc, lead and silver.

The two mines combined will bring over 130 new jobs into the region and add millions more to the NSW economy.

Broken Hill has a long and glittering history of mining operations with that mineral and metal exports make up about one third of NSW’s merchandise exports at a value of around $10.8 billion annually.

Every mining job in western NSW supports another three indirect jobs and keeps the lifeblood of centres like Broken Hill flowing.

Since 1995 the NSW Government has poured more than $70 million in to mineral and petroleum exploration with over $10 million of that spent at Broken Hill.

The NSW minerals sector makes a significant economic contribution to local communities such as:

• employment;
• support for businesses,
• electricity, road, rail and port infrastructure,
• a contribution to community life through clubs, sport and culture; and
• over $600 million per annum in royalties that are pumped back in to community services.

The recently released ACIL Tasman report outlining the minerals industry economic contribution to NSW highlights the fact that mining employs 47,000 people directly, mainly in regional towns and cities and supports over 200,000 jobs throughout the State.

This report is available on the DPI website www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/minerals