Tag: BHP Olympic Dam

Team members at Olympic Dam. Image: BHP BY AMY BLOM OLYMPIC Dam had mixed results in FY18 as a result of smelter issues as well as a planned rolling shutdown. However, production is back on track and BHP is pushing ahead with expansion projects and potentially game-changing innovations that could decrease costs while doubling production. Growth plans for BHP’s Olympic Dam were back on track following a slower than planned ramp-up after its major smelter upgrade earlier this year and ongoing technical issues. The major smelter maintenance upgrade was the largest planned shutdown ever undertaken in Olympic Dam’s 30 year history, running from August 2017 until February 2018. Other major upgrade work was carried out on the refinery, concentrator and…

The Carrapateena mine will enter production in 2019. Image: OZ Minerals. BY ELIZABETH FABRI THE South Australian resources sector has had a strong year. But dwindling exploration points to a far greater issue for the State, as it looks to ramp up production and continue the search for the next Olympic Dam-style deposit. More exploration is needed in South Australia: that is the message Association of Mining and Exploration Companies (AMEC) chief executive Warren Pearce had for delegates at the recent South Australia Resources and Energy Investment conference (SAREIC) in Adelaide. “Greenfields mineral exploration, the heartbeat of mining, is flat lining in South Australia,” Mr Pearce said. “Nationally mineral exploration has been rebounding since 2016, but the numbers out of…

Olympic Dam’s copper smelter is getting a $350 million upgrade. All images: BHP. BY CAMERON DRUMMOND AS it prepares to mine the “body of the guitar” at Olympic Dam – representing an incredible 70 per cent of the resource footprint – BHP is forging ahead with $600 million of expansions and upgrades. Undeterred by an 18 per cent decrease in annual copper output due to state-wide power outages during September and October last year, BHP’s Olympic Dam is undergoing its biggest expansion and maintenance program since the Big Aussie purchased the mine from Western Mining Corporation in 2005. In 2011, BHP released a supplementary Environmental Impact Statement into a gigantic open pit expansion at Olympic Dam. Operating simultaneously with the…