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BHP workers may take over Woomera detention centreBy Cameron England
July 16, 2007 12:00am
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WOOMERA is gearing up to be the state's next boom town, with mining giant BHP Billiton admitting it is considering housing workers at the town's former detention centre.
As part of the pre-feasibility study into the proposed $6 billion expansion of the Olympic Dam copper, gold and uranium mine, BHP has made inquiries about housing workers at the site.
Spokeswoman Emma Meade said the company did not know how many workers it could accommodate at the former detention centre but they would be some of the estimated 3000 workers it would need to work on building the expansion from 2009 to 2012.
"We have made some inquiries about the possibility of accommodating a construction workforce at Woomera as part of the pre-feasibility process we're working through at the moment,'' Ms Meade said.
"Bear in mind, it is one of a range of options we're looking at. We're just doing some preliminary work at the moment.''
BHP already rents accommodation in the town.
Mining options
Workers commute the hour each way to Olympic Dam at Roxby Downs on a company bus.
The Woomera detention centre housed up to 1500 asylum seekers at its peak in 2000. It subsequently has been used by the Defence Department for accommodation.
Woomera went into decline after the closure of the detention centre in 2003. The population slumped to less than 200.
The population since has risen to more than 400, with the burgeoning mining and defence industries revitalising the Outback town.
US company Rocketplane Kistler is looking to create 200 to 300 jobs by 2008.
In late 2006, Kistler won a $272 million NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) contract for launch trials at Woomera, with the view to finding a permanent base from which to supply the International Space Station.
At the time, the Canberra-based chairman of Kistler Woomera, Alan Evans, said the project would ``go on for a very long time, for the foreseeable future''.
"When the facility is up and running, there will be a couple of hundred people involved in the launch preparation and launch site,'' he said. In addition, he said late last week the project would create 200 to 300 technology jobs but that would not conflict with recruitment in the mining industry.
Mr Evans said the company was now finalising construction tenders for the project.
NASA requires the company to develop rockets capable of carrying cargo - and possibly astronauts - into space. Three launches must take place before 2010.
The changing face of Woomera is illustrated by the fact that up to 70 homes and eight accommodation blocks have been knocked down or relocated by the Federal Government in recent years.
A spokesman from the Defence Department said yesterday the Woomera Detention Centre was in the final stages of being handed back to Defence from the Department of Immigration - but there were no plans for it to be used as a camp to house miners or construction workers.
Western Australian Auzcorp this month said it would lease the mothballed Port Hedland immigration detention centre and refurbish it to provide accommodation for mining workers based in the state's Pilbara region.