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While some observers are saying the mining boom is over, BHP Billiton is ploughing ahead with plans to house the thousands of new workers needed for the Olympic Dam expansion to kick off in 2013.

The company has appointed local real estate consultant Realty Solutions to advertise for experienced developers to build 2000 new houses, a 2000 single bedroom camp-style development for fly-in fly-out workers, a light commercial area and a caravan park.

Roxby Downs is already a property hotspot. On a recent visit to the town I was told there was a 350-strong waiting list of firm buyers. There was a full-scale building boom and every house was pre-sold.

Roxby Downs is the dormitory town for the Olympic Dam mine. The mine sits on a flat dusty plain

12km along a good road from the mine; Roxby Downs sits on gently rolling hills with established trees.

The population is 4500 with about 30 per cent of them under 10. The local kindy, school and TAFE has 1000 youngsters – the largest in the state – and St Barbara’s has another 200 primary students and is looking to kick off a secondary school. About 350 BHP Billiton people are currently involved in a study to double the size of the Olympic Dam mine starting in 2013.

Originally called a pre-feasibility study, it is now known as a selection study. This includes an environmental impact statement for delivery and public consultation some time next year for the expansion of the underground copper/gold/uranium mine into one of the biggest open-cut mines on earth.

Roxby Downs is to be doubled in size with two, three and four-bedroom houses to be built on land made available to developers by the company. Once expressions of interest are available from selected pre-qualified developers, the mining giant will enter negotiations with one or more tenderers, or undertake a more formal selection tender.

Four builders have recently completed a couple of hundred new homes in Roxby Downs. They are McCracken Homes, Keith Daniels Homes, Alpine Construction and Hickinbotham Homes. All are submitting expressions of interest. During the construction phase – of some 10 years – the biggest problem will be housing workers.

A temporary accommodation village is envisaged out of town along the Coober Pedy road. In the meantime, housing in the town is already stretched with reports that residents are camping out in tents and shipping containers.

Roxby Downs Council chief executive Bill Boehm said the town would develop differently from most mining centres given that BHP Billiton was determining the release of land.

“The planning process means there is less likely to be speculative activity than in most other mining towns in boom times,” Mr Boehm said.

“The difference is, it’s a controlled environment. An indenture from the State Government means the mining company builds houses and sells them at cost,” Mr Boehm said.

“Real estate prices are governed by how quickly the company develops the land.” The indenture agreement between the company and the State Government was being renegotiated. The most contentious aspect seems to be the expansion of the smelting assets which convert ore into sheets of copper, bars of gold and silver and uranium yellowcake.

At Prominent Hill, another massive copper mine just up the road which will be in production towards the end of this year, its treatment plant will produce an enriched copper ore of about 50 per cent copper. There is no smelter, with its enormous requirements of power, water and qualified manpower which now operates at Olympic Dam. The ore will be trucked to a railway siding, hauled to Darwin and sold to Asian smelters where the labour intensive function is much cheaper.

The new housing scheme at Roxby Downs involves the company leasing the land from the government then going through an application process to own it, after which they sell it to employees with a three-year caveat in place.

（independentweekly.com.au）