One of The Strangest & Richest Mineral Deposits Ever Discovered

[@OzGeologyOfficial]

If you would like to support this channel, consider joining our Patreon: www.patreon.com/OzGeology Here's the link to my second channel - PaleoZoology: kzbin.info/door/sg3FupO7inx3UOieayzF1g Since I wasn't able to include the end screen in this video, I'd like to thank my Patreon and KZbin Members here: Sikacalling, Chris Taylor, Peter Cunningham. Zak Knezevic, Andrew Hartley, Norah Booker, Tom McGrath, Jürgen Bubeck, hudmumper, Emma Phillips, Syme G, Terry Kildea, Zach Antle, Philip Bott, Jon Ruddell. Krystal De Napoli, Peeter, Nelson Isada, Helen Nibbs, TommyWithaBee, Adam Hofman, Gezza, Lachlan Nethercote, Karl Thomas, Kevin Lee, Rodney Kouvaras, Norma Pircer, Edison Bittencourt, WeeWilly1961, Ross Thornton, Chris Taylor, Nettlerow, richjdnz, Skye Talker, Karen Finnegan Art, Andrew Dillon, Kimmy, Eric Hutton, Dave McDonald, Unoriginalsyn, Peter Hoffman, Allan Boughen, Don Amos, Rick Carter, Sara Reinehr, Ruth Less, Phillip Spicer, Peter Alexandrovics, Jay Svensson, Honky-Tonky-Wonky-Donkey, Nic and Mick, Peter Lord, Leonie Price, J. Donoghue, Marco Mangen, Sara Green, Tim Robinson, Rod Warren, Annette Hackett, Deborah Hyde, Rolf Schweimer, Neil Mangels, Terrence Marjoram. Thank you so much for supporting the channel!

[@RickyanicheevYT]

nice vids btw

[@schnauzpig]

What are you showing us at 4:23 what are the axis?

[@awolffromamongus875]

I can smell Olympic Dam, just seeing pics of it. "unforgettable" 😂

[@mickdonaghy]

Maybe Andamooka which is nearby

[@beardjuice]

Wait so... There was granite, then the metal was cooked out of it into veins of ore?

[@648Roland]

The exploration company I worked for 53 years ago, had the exploration lease below the Olympic Dam deposit. Was also when I learnt to drive as one of the geologist field workers involved with taking samples over hundreds of kilometres. Got kicked out of Leigh Creek for only wearing a lap-lap. No grey nomads back then or any communication. Was an amazing adventure for a new Australian.

[@rossnolan7283]

Roland, was the firm Geoex ? I helped convert Cessna 185 aircraft for aerial magnetometer surveying in 1980, I think they either found or proved out the deposit. It was very interesting to see how they operated and to work on the aircraft and the "birds" that carried the sensors towed behind and below.

[@648Roland]

@@rossnolan7283 It's name was Carpentaria Exploration Co. which was owned by Mt. Isa Mines. Can remember drafting a magnetometer survey to paper I being also the company cartographer. We only heard of the discovery.

[@1mmickk]

Getting kicked out of the Pub at Leigh Creek or the Town or anywhere is quite an accomplishment for that area. Many have tried all have failed apart from you. You must be a very special bloke. Or maybe the Barman thought his Mrs was looking too closely. Who knows, its the Bush Rollo.

[@648Roland]

@@1mmickk Was the local cinema, Chris was a non-drinker, vegetarian who looked like Jesus on steroids. Was around that time I got sunburnt everywhere. Was just the way we dressed with nobody for many miles being a hat, open shirt and boots. Was a bit more than a year after the moon landing.

[@1mmickk]

@@648Roland Ah the 70s such great times.

[@davidstokes8441]

I worked for WMC, the owners of Olympic Dam as the Community Relations Officer for 5 years. The best years of my working life. Many do not know, but the "dam" Olympic Dam is named after is an earth tank fed by a bore well, constructed in 1956, the year of the Melbourne Olympics. It is not a large structure, like a dam on a river, but a rather modest livestock watering hole. My tenure spanned from 1996 to 2000 when the mine changed hands, but it covered the first major expansion of the mine, creation of a new bore field, and the erection of a new powerline from Pt Augusta. I floated the idea to save the Great Artesian Basin from over use by controlling the free running bores and channel converting to an enclosed system of pipes and tanks.

[@jasonthompson5324]

Yes their wouldn’t be many indigenous geologists I’ll tell you a story though, when I was a baby my parents who I now look after with stroke and dementia took me on a trip around Australia we were in the desert and they car had broken down, dad was replacing the radiator and we needed water. As he was under the car 4 sets of feet appeared and he saw 4 indigenous men in traditional aboriginal lion cloths this was 1973 He thought they may kill us but showed he was friendly and gave them sugar and tea ect and gestured we needed water They pointed to the sun and walked off that same time the following day they returned with water They saved our lives That is 100% true story

[@jolla9963]

I giggled then, I always thought Olympic Dam was just that, a dam. I just now found out it is a mine, my mind is blown by my own ignorance. Thank you expanding my layman knowledge. It's true, one does learn something new every day.

[@TommieJean-l4c]

We sure do!❤️

[@allangibson8494]

It was a stock dam… (constructed during the 1956 Olympics)…

[@TheeMuseumofjunk]

It's hilarious that we sent our criminals there as a punishment, "you're banished to a country made out of gold, opals and all the minerals we could ever need. You're going to really hate the 16,000 miles of beautiful unspoiled coastline." Maybe we should have left them all here in the rain.

[@BobWobbles]

Hmm, crime does pay sometimes Lol

[@BobLouden-r9q]

That's why we lol at the pomes. You thought you sent us to hell., When in fact you sent us to heaven. 😁🇦🇺🦘

[@crouchingwombathiddenquoll5641]

British criminalized poverty and used the poor as slave labor to settle the land and build ports for the wealthy to follow. The real criminals went through Hell's gate in Tasmania and never got out.

[@jesusislukeskywalker4294]

​@@BobLouden-r9q"we've got the best of both worlds" ball earth and flat earth 😂

[@BobLouden-r9q]

@@jesusislukeskywalker4294 you forgot, Hollow earth.

[@philmarsh4228]

Worked here in 04, an amazing piece of mining, but hotter than hell.

[@allangibson8494]

Having worked there in the 90’s on the number 2 and 3 grinding mills I must concur. Over 30C at midnight is an “Experience”.

[@thatfelladownunder9396]

Yeah I did some shut down work there (last job I did before retiring due to health), cleaning out the settling tanks at the SE plant? From memory. Using vac trucks. Fully suited up with air, inside a steel tank late summer. The heat was so bad we used to douse each other with a water hose to cool us off as we worked the 12 hour shifts. The engineer would come and inspect the tanks as we cleared them out. He’d come out after a few minutes, face flushed red, shaking his head. He said and I quote “ you blokes have the worst job in Olympic Dam”. Proud to say I lasted the job out when younger blokes were looking for other jobs to do. Anyway, I loved working there for the few shutdowns I did. Wish I went there as a younger man.

[@TAGG-TV]

Thanks

[@OzGeologyOfficial]

Thank you so much for your generous donation! 🙏😊

[@timlarcombe6831]

I was there from 1986 to 1989, when I got there was a winder room shaft and few mine offices and a single man's camp. 3 years later, process plant desal plant, town all magically appeared out of the desert. The last mining town that will ever built in Australia.

[@taleandclawrock2606]

Why do you think the last mining town to ever be built in Oz?

[@stewatparkpark2933]

@@taleandclawrock2606 Fly in , fly out .

[@allangibson8494]

@@taleandclawrock2606The new mines are fly in fly out. No permanent residents or family accommodation.

[@StevenHanover]

Are there recreational spots to gold pan there with the family

[@stewatparkpark2933]

@@taleandclawrock2606 Fly in fly out .

[@andrewreed4216]

I love hearing about this stuff. Thankyou 👍

[@peterschaefer2946]

wow so rich in uranium how lucky are we or how stupid are we by not using it

[@deemushroomguy]

How lucky you are not to have tried to exploit it... Look into the radioactive wasteland that is the Navajo Nation. ✌️

[@russmarkham2197]

be careful extracting and processing it. That can be very damaging to the environment.

[@rayjohnson7881]

The bread and circus voters voted for the mess in power.

[@deemushroomguy]

@@russmarkham2197 to the environment, to human health, to social norms....

[@missano3856]

It is sold.

[@ProsperousProspecting]

Great topic, I enjoyed it, most fascinating. Thank you.

[@1mmickk]

Some of the best Opal has come out of Olympic field and theres plenty more there.

[@rosa9079]

Learning so much about my country.

[@karlheinzvonkroemann2217]

Australia is an amazing place. Hopefully it can be preserved to a great extent and not filled up with endlless immigration, exploited and destroyed like North America has been for just money. More is not always better.

[@greghayes9118]

You are absolutely correct, the mineral deposits at Olympic Dam are definitely not evenly distributed.... by that I mean not so much in geological way, but economic way. You could almost call it Olympic😶 Damn!

[@apolloskyfacer5842]

This is suppose to be a video about the Olympic Dam project, yet we're constantly shown images of Cooper Pedy. which is far south of Olympic Dam.

[@verosso2788]

Cooper Pedy is north of Olympic Dam.

[@apolloskyfacer5842]

@@verosso2788 Oopsy daisy. Yes, that's correct. North West of Olympic Dam

[@emceeboogieboots1608]

Not much in the way of stock footage of Olympic Dam I imagine...

[@Smokeyr67]

CooBer Pedy

[@apolloskyfacer5842]

@@emceeboogieboots1608 I've heard that the on site security there is intense.

[@nothinggrand3805]

Olympic dam is also known for very large Baryte crystals.

[@cowdogg3085]

Beware of blackrock!!! Don't let them get a claw into the area!!!

[@ChineseKiwi]

All Blackrock do is invest OTHER people’s money on behalf of them, like your Super Fund. Even you can get them to invest your money for you by buying into one of their iShares ETFs. Please actually educate yourself. Super Funds own far more. Australian Super own 3.44% of BHP by themselves, let alone other Super Funds.

[@louisebb4183]

Is it that’s why the Black Rock is putting hands on our minerals? We have to defend it from overseas grabs.

[@RickBlaine]

Too late. I heard Australian mining 86% is foreign owned.

[@morrismonet3554]

@@RickBlaine Australia's mining industry is 86% foreign owned; BHP is 76% foreign owned, and Rio Tinto is 83%. You Aussies could have developed your own mining industry, like the Americans, but didn't, so smarter people stepped in.

[@chipsrafferty8362]

The crooked government you have will sell their souls to foreign interests……just watch there cobber,just watch

[@ChineseKiwi]

Oh gees, this Blackrock conspiracy has to stop. They do exactly the same thing as your Super Fund, in that they invest OTHER people's money on behalf of them, and like your Super, they typically do not ever buy out companies as a whole, only part ownership. You can even get Blackrock to invest your money for you via their iShares ETFs. Super Funds own far more mineral wealth via ownership in the likes of BHP and Rio Tinto.

[@ChineseKiwi]

@@RickBlaine This depends really. In reality, Super Funds are the largest shareholders of BHP. Australian Super own 3.44% of BHP by themselves, let alone other Super Funds. Super Funds use custodians like HSBC and JP Morgan to invest it for them. Too many people don't know how financial markets or how Super Fund investment works, which leads to dumb conspiracies like this Blackrock one. Notice how they never state HSBC or JP Morgan as they dunno other ones and they aren't mentioned in Facebook posts they believe?

[@markkilley2683]

Another good vid.

[@rocarr180]

Love your work been following a while 🙏❤️

[@boydy80]

I'd love to see you do a video about the formation of Opal. An amazing and unique gemstone requiring very special conditions to form. Conditions so unique that Earth and potential Mars are the only 2 bodies in the solar system thought to have the right conditions. Also a unique gemstone only found in Australia and I believe Brasil.

[@taleandclawrock2606]

Also Ethiopia, and fire opal ( no rainbow colors) found in a few other places including USA❤

[@ToyneHarris]

Opal is found all over the world , including North and South America, Africa, Europe and Indonesia.

[@vsvnrg3263]

@@ToyneHarris , yes, but ours is best!

[@matthewmorgan7106]

Discovered in 1975 by Western Mining Corporation

[@allangibson8494]

And now operated by BHP Billiton…

[@Silvergum]

great video as always

[@annemacpherson916]

Good morning from Australia & thanks 😊

[@MrLeslloyd]

Makes you wonder,electricity is sent 1100km north from Rockhampton to Cairns,why aren't there 3 Nuclear Power stations located along the Eastern border of South Australia that could power all Victoria,NSW and up to Rockhampton with all that Uranium so close,South Australia should be the Powerhouse of Australia and the richest too.

[@chrisharvey8947]

Because you can pop renewable anywhere and everywhere

[@allangibson8494]

Olympic Dam is actually investigating installing solar panels to feed the grid via their existing 132kV feeder to the South Australian grid.

[@quickdigest]

the bloody greenies

[@eklein3904]

Firstly, those who benefit from the current power supply infrastructure would do their best to ensure that never happens…..secondly, it’s not a cheap build and many legal hurdles involved.

[@bremnersghost948]

@@chrisharvey8947 Renewable sounds great on paper until you realise that Solar Panels, Windmills etc need Renewing every 10 years at most and the Materials to make them does more damage to the Environment than Fossil Fuels. As Sea Levels are rising what's needed is more Tidal Power Generation and CO2 Scrubbers on the "Dirty" methods of producing Power.

[@Danger_mouse]

I work at nearby Prominent Hill mine, no doubt part of the same geology, and also a very rich deposit.

[@thecartsman]

You guys got power yet?

[@Danger_mouse]

@@thecartsman We didn't loose power here. Only OD, Prom was split off the line a few years ago

[@danielflinn3571]

Thanks for sharing

[@duncanm6589]

Interesting you had few shots of opal mining in this. I know it is further east at Andamooka.

[@Kimbo1972]

also South at Cobber Pedy, and I think theres a significant Opal site North of Olympic Dam as well

[@michaelhermans4753]

Stayed for a month in andamooka while working at Olympic Dam I think I was the only one there with a full set of teeth 😂

[@ModernProspector]

Australia has dozens of opal deposits across the country.

[@thecartsman]

@@Kimbo1972more straight west to Coober

[@BobLouden-r9q]

I worked at Roxby downs relining the community swimming pool, 30 ish years ago stark bloody place.

[@1mmickk]

Also I am very reliably informed that SA has more Copper than anywhere else on Earth. More Iron than WA more everything of everything basically. Its all under the ground not like WA where it pops up. Planes fly over with a drone on a cable measuring this and that. Every day something new is found in SA. MGT Mines Razorback Project where the entire range is above ground and was screaming mine me, for 150 years is an example of a recent find. In SA drill cores go back 100 years but were all shallow. They were looking for easy pickings. Near me I found a lost drill survey report from the 1960s by an American Co who found TWO micro Diamonds but no source. Two micro Diamonds dont appear by magic, they come from a gigantic source. I think I have found the source thanks to Sat tech using Mk1 Eyeball. They didnt have any tech in the 60s really but drilling. No ones looking for Diamonds on a commercial scale in Australia.

[@jeffreycooper1336]

I worked there in 1994 again in 98 and 99 on their expansion projects as a poly pipe welder, a very unusual place living in a camp the footy ground was hard baked red dirt near Ladbrooks garage.

[@emceeboogieboots1608]

I requested this on another video recently, and here it is. Pretty sure BHPs Nickelwest division was just a byproduct of the WMC acquisition. This deposit is what they were really after. A massive long life orebody

[@DidiPort]

Excellent video, these are really a valuable insight into what shaped the Country and surrounding geological formations. You do a look of research and communicate your message well. On a tangent - Australia has incredible mineral waste, only to so hamstrung by poor governance, that prosper it cannot, that is simply crazy. When will governments undo the shackles so Australia and even the world can benefit from this incredible mineral wealth?

[@craigmckenzie5709]

ore-inspiring... I see what you did there :)

[@Kimbo1972]

I dig it :)

[@chrisdickinson7949]

As a South Australian I have no doubt we will be able to totally squander this amassing gift, just like our Oil & Gas !

[@jmatt98]

This was the largest known deposit of vegemite 😆

[@ianmiles2505]

Nice.

[@bradpacker8370]

Its a massive mine 100 year + mine life

[@danw3735]

All into the back pockets of the rich, it's why they get richer. Try to go there an mine as a normal 1 person miner, and you will be arrested even though it's everyone's land.

[@corvanphoenix]

Does all that U increase the cost of mining there?

[@sleebanger]

Caused by enormous meteorite impact. Look at Lake akraman and Lake torrens shape. 2 more.huge impacts towards Queensland border.

[@miroslavmarkovic4695]

why keep showing the coober pedy opal fields

[@OzGeologyOfficial]

Lack of stock footage.

[@Kimbo1972]

cause Olympic Dam is on private owned land - and is heavily restricted with what you can and cant photograph. I managed to get a tour of the site when I was working as a Geologists assistant. You had to change into their supplied clothing and boots, did the tour of the mine - which was 32 degrees year round, about 2km's down from the surface. You then returned to a change room, showered and got back into your gear, then passed through atleast 1 set of scanners on the way out - to prevent theft of anything shiny!!!

[@michaelhermans4753]

@@OzGeologyOfficialgot heaps of photos, spent 3 years on the expansion in 1997

[@SOBIESKI_freedom]

Awesome shot of Oz at the beginning there... especially on a 4K TV.

[@kennethkranixfeld164]

Thankyou

[@grahamgillard3722]

Now watch the government stuff it up.

[@jkohler607]

The image of all the volcano's erupting in the Paleozoic era, at around 1:47 in the video, where was that obtained? It would be a very cool poster.

[@nate7LP_my_dog_found_the_knife]

So a natural machine that self replenishes raw resources as it migrates. If you know, you know.

[@jasonthompson5324]

Great video I had never heard about that deposit and the uranium in the same vicinity Would the uranium be dangerous to someone mining for gold ect out there in its natural form I’m guessing yes

[@jeromy2653]

Yes, definitely, and natural blue and white asbestos. All deadly without proper caution ⚠️

[@88njtrigg88]

The pitch blend isn't enriched, so no more dangerous than mining another mineral.

[@jasonthompson5324]

Thanks,it’s great to learn from the comments as well as the video’s

[@taleandclawrock2606]

Uranium mined near Kakadu National Park at Jabiluka mine, shut down by protests, on doorstep of indigenous Mirrar People and world Heritage Area. The Mirrar called it " sickness country" and avoided it, prior to mining. The dust is not healthy.

[@allangibson8494]

The Uranium is relatively safe. (The uranium production plant has however burned down twice - uranium is purified by solvent extraction and the kerosene based solvent burns really easily). The polonium and other fun actinides and lathanides in the ore are another question. The slag from the copper smelter is “hot” both thermally and radioactively. It is dumped in the slag ponds by a telehandler. Olympic dam is also unusual in that all the ore is processed on site to over 99.9% purity metal by an onsite electro winning plant. The copper is strapped to the trucks that bring the explosives to site, for the return trip, and the gold and silver bullion are flown out to Adelaide.

[@vincentkuah2525]

Most of these minerals will be exported to the US????

[@duncananderson9762]

You mean CHINA......... Right

[@johnmcgregor6000]

Could this possibly be the location of 'Lassetters lost Reef' ?

[@jeffreycooper1336]

Great opals at Andamooka just down the road, closed now . Bought them at one of the 2 hotels there in 1994

[@kappakiwi3257]

The first ore body of its kind to be found, the jewel of the copper triangle. Its a hell of a place to live and work, the rock structures are beautiful to see before they shotcrete the walls, nearly 1km deep and its a proper rabbit warren!

[@billybloggs3214]

Where are the billions of barrels of oil? Something is fishy

[@natchaos5604]

Do you want a war?? That's how you get a war...

[@damo780]

Beetaloo

[@crouchingwombathiddenquoll5641]

Shale oil deposit between Port Augusta and Pimba, approximately 20 billion barrels equivalent. Offshore from west coast of Kangaroo Island all the way to Eucala on WA boarder, oil / gas. Kim Beasley slapped a ban on future development and declared the area a Whale sanctuary. Better known as a strategic reserve.

[@nuggetella]

Cheers. 🍻

[@qmp666]

Worked there on 3 expansion projects. A uranium mine. Where gold is a bye product. At the end of the day. We have enough gold here to mine 24/7 for 200 yrs. I saw some a AMAIZING THINGS IN THAT PLACE..

[@scott2296]

Coppa, Uranium, Gold, and Silva

[@garybenson]

One of the most ORE-inspiring deposits of wealth on the planet....

[@MrConspark]

Awesomeness in Archeologic history. Why did they call it Olympic dam? Cheers Oz

[@jasonthompson5324]

Yeah that would make sense wow They are amazing the indigenous 70,000 yr old DNA you can’t beat that you only have to watch Cathy freeman run or greg Inglis to see it in action Beautiful to watch Thanks for that reply

[@jeremygaynor2410]

What has indigenous anything got to do with geology?? Human beings as we have evolved, are recent arrivals on planet earth.

[@kdeuler]

Wow! Any titanium?

[@SJR_Media_Group]

*_Talk about winning the 'Triple Crown' of valuable ores... wow..._*

[@davidgriffiths827]

Interesting video, well presented. May I offer a generic improvement suggestion? When taking photographs which require a scale use an actual scale - most of the world is familiar with a metric ruler but, even an imperial ruler will work. Please avoid scaling using items that seem familiar to you such as coins - for viewers in any other country than your own, they will have little to no idea how big they are. Try even harder to avoid using the obverse of a coin because you can't even identify its size, even if you are a regular user. Your picture at the 3min mark is clearly an Australian coin - it possible even uses some of the metals found in the sample but even a fellow Australian like me, cannot tell whether it is a 5c, 10c or 20c coin and therefore its size.

[@darkjudge8786]

Spent 2 weeks around Olympic Dam with the Army in the late 1990s. I've no idea if the infrastructure has improved but I suspect the main barrier to mining remains it being fucking hot, over 50C during the day, below freezing at night, zero water and limited transport. We had a soldier go down with heat stroke on a 3 hour patrol and then 2 with hypothermia on gun piquette at night within 24 hours. We had to cease all movement between 12pm and 6pm due to the heat and I went through 20 litres of water a day and had to take salt and sugar supplements constantly just to survive. Still got debilitating cramps a few times. There is hot and there is life threatening hot. Olympic Dam is lethal. Fuck living let alone working there.

[@pcatful]

Any graphite please?

[@Oldguy-k3t]

Could you find gold deposits using ground penetrating radar? I think they used a drone to find greenstone belts and gold in Canada.

[@OzGeologyOfficial]

Yes you definitely can. GPR can map geological structures, helping geologists identify potential gold-bearing areas.

[@clivedinosaur8407]

@4:40 "...creating one of the most awe inspiring deposits". Pun intended?

[@conradnelson5283]

Australia is going to be very rich.

[@AnthonyRooney-be2tx]

Was once till a lot of the good assets got sold off

[@LordMondegrene]

That must have been some incredibly hot, acidic, pressurized water to dissolve GOLD, & concentrate it in cracks!

[@robmckrill3134]

So glad that we eliminated volcanoes from Australia as the greens would be having pup's with all the co2 that they spewing out 😅

[@88njtrigg88]

Hope they don't find out about the active peat moss in south-West Victoria.

[@Bob-h3n]

​@@88njtrigg88 Both volcanism and biogeochemical cycles are natural events that are part of the ecosystem. Neither of them are responsible for climate change at the rate we are experiencing. But you already know this.

[@aussiet5817]

@@88njtrigg88 They are too busy listening to themselves to know anything 😂

[@emceeboogieboots1608]

We should work on eliminating drought next then. Should be much easier than volcanoes

[@Chessdot89]

I was exposed to high levels of radiation in olympic dam when abandoned in an unventilated area with no comunications in 2009 now I'm dying because of it thanks bhp u killed me off early

[@michaelhermans4753]

BHP will open cut the underground mine at a cost of 30 Billion The main issue is there’s 3 years of overburden to remove to get to the ore body

[@garynew9637]

Very similar history to the chillago area, fnq.

[@WaKincaid]

I could listen to Australians talk all day long , I wonder how they feel about Texan accents?

[@paulhicks3595]

I’ve been there. It is, indeed, a very big hole.

[@scottprather5645]

Good video 👍 those sound effects in the background are distracting and annoying. I think it would be a better video without them.

[@rebeccaaldrich3396]

I'm glad it was found in Australia, an allie. 😅

[@parrotraiser6541]

Who is exploiting all that rich ore?

[@texasslingleadsomtingwong8751]

BP

[@TonyWilliams-d4w]

So, if the people that own and lived here are rich. Look up your mineral rights on your property.

[@philipfreeman72]

With that much red sand something big died there .

[@SamSeth]

Yeah probably a massive sulfide deposit

[@georgeherzog5929]

Thar's gold in them thar hills. Welcome, stranger!

[@Outrjs]

About 6,000 years.

[@jameshorn270]

Now, if the mining companies can extract ALL of the minerals, even the ones which would not be profitable alone but as part of a total extraction process would average out to be retrievable. Don't just throw them out on the slag heap.

[@isaackellogg3493]

“These rocks, known as breccia, became the cannabis for hydrothermal fluids to work their magic.” When nature smokes a bowl the size of a Large Igneous Province

[@morrismonet3554]

I've been increasing my Rio Tinto stock holdings lately.

[@DM-ji7rq]

BHP owns the mine, not Rio Tinto.

[@peterhamlin618]

How can it be most unique? It's either unique or it isn't.

[@deanwing2866]

lol best joke of Australia little Olympic dam

[@musicmaker99]

Nothing can be more or less unique than anything else. Uniqueness is absolute. Either it is or it isn't. It's like being pregnant. You can't be more pregnant than someone else.

[@guidosarducci209]

"Most unique" is semantic nonsense. It either is unique, or it isn't. On-off. No degree of uniqueness, because it means "one of a kind".

[@dw9666]

Maybe a half of a kind lol

[@jimmy160680]

Pedant

[@JohnOlson-o3t]

Billions of years??? yeah right.

[@solanaceae2069]

Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oi Oi Oi, Au Au Au, Ag Ag Ag

[@danielcobbins8861]

Cu, Cu, Cu, U, U, U.

[@petermoller8337]

Most unique 😊😅 English as a second language 😊

[@hillwalker8741]

hope Aus doesn't give it all away like the US does with their deposits

[@lukebrennan5780]

and Australians get how much, from the mining companies for this?

[@ChineseKiwi]

A lot actually via Super Funds. Australian Super own 3.44% of BHP by themselves, let alone other Super Funds.

[@lukebrennan5780]

@@ChineseKiwi so BUGGER ALL compared to smarter countries.

[@ChineseKiwi]

@@lukebrennan5780 totally all Super funds, it is closer to 40%-50%. They own 39% of the Australian stockmarket.

[@billtev9846]

Australia’s retirement account is all set. I better start collecting Aussie dollar now.

[@Karl-Benny]

A Treasure for Who? Not Australians

[@PCMcGee1]

Exactly

[@brendanquinn6894]

Rubbish. The biggest tax payers in Australia are our mining companys. Get an education.

[@kdoney5519]

More resources to give away to overseas companies

[@matambale]

There are no degrees of uniqueness. A thing is either unique, or it is not.

[@alfredopampanga9356]

The author tries to work himself into a lather about Olympic Dam formation but it sounds like any other deposit Maybe I’m missing something.

[@OzGeologyOfficial]

It’s definitely not like any other deposit. The huge amount of uranium in an iocg system is highly unusual.

[@ErnestoRoman420]

Your wrong Mr. Rodger Spurr knows the real truth of those minerals

[@barkingmouse8152]

I'm sure the government will find someone to give it away to..

[@davidhoward4715]

That's what the LNP government did. The federal and South Australian governments are now Labor, so our mineral resources are in safe hands.

[@notsureyou]

@@davidhoward4715 China's??

[@mabamabam]

@@davidhoward4715 lol. It was Gillard who gave away the east coast gas. Thanks to Labor you pay whatever the Japanese charge for Australian gas. Liberal and Labor are both great at screwing australia