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Australian union pushing BHP to contract steel work locally for South Flank

The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union has called on both BHP Billiton Group and Western Australia Premier Mark McGowan to keep the structural steel work for the company's US$3.6 billion South Flank iron ore project within the state, The West Australian reported May 17.

The union is concerned that local fabricators will lose about 24,000 tonnes of work if the mining heavyweight employs offshore manufacturers.

The union's state secretary Steve McCartney said that they want the "government to stand up for local content," and that BHP is obligated to prioritize local jobs.

BHP noted that about US$168 million of the US$184 million initial work for the mines has been given to Australian companies, with 94% of those companies based in Western Australia.

South Flank is awaiting internal and external approvals, and will be submitted for board approval by June-end this year. First ore from the project is scheduled for 2021.

Western Australia's Environment Protection Authority gave conditional approval to BHP in December 2017 to develop the open-cut South Flank project.