Prepared for Hydrogeology Journal FINAL DRAFT May 1999 1 Social and Ecological Impact of Water Extraction for a Copper-Uranium Mine

Mining activities often take place in relatively remote regions of the world where wate is a limiting resource and infrastructure to harness water is minimal. Copper-uranium mining at Olympic Dam in South Australia provides an interesting example of such a situation. The mine’s water supply is sourced from the south-western margin of the Great Artesian Basin, one of the Basin’s principal groundwater discharge zones where over several millennia unique springs have formed. These springs contain many rare and endemic flora and fauna and were important foci for the traditional people of the region. The social and ecological costs of rapid water extraction are often not accounted for in such ventures because the short-term gains from mineral extraction are enormous and occlude more long-term environmental impacts on water availability. Indeed, the life of a mine is usually no more than half a century but the effect of the mining on water resources is often irreversible. The small settlements of native groups that inhabit such regions have historically been excluded from the decision-making process concerning such mines. Long-term planning for water resource extraction at the Olympic Dam mine is thus an increasingly important task in order to protect the associated environmental and cultural values of the springs