For anyone concerned that the Australian resources boom may be upended by a slowdown in demand from China over coming years, remember just two words: Olympic Dam.

The raw facts and figures behind Australia’s next-big-mining-thing are staggering, as Robert Gottliebsen of Business Spectator writes in today’s Crikey …

  • Olympic Dam is the world’s most valuable mineral deposit, the world’s largest uranium deposit, the world’s fourth largest copper deposit and is also rich in gold and silver.
  • Its owner, BHP, will spend $30 billion alone just to access the giant uranium ore body, which is expected to have a 100-year life.
  • BHP estimates there are currently 439 nuclear reactors in operation around the world, but that number is predicted to rise to 793 by 2030.
  • The mine is expected to generate 6000 new jobs during construction, a further 4000 full-time jobs at the open-pit mine and an estimated 15,000 new indirect jobs.
  • Olympic Dam will transform South Australia into a boom state.

Saudi Australia, indeed.