The Carrapateena operation in South Australia. Image: OZ Minerals
BHP has shed more light on its plans for South Australia after recently acquiring OZ Minerals and its Prominent Hill and Carrapateena copper mines.
“Globally, BHP has the largest copper endowment of any company, based on ownership interest,” BHP chief operating officer Edgar Basto said at the 2023 Austmine Conference.
“In South Australia we have Olympic Dam, which is one of the world’s most significant deposits of copper, gold, silver and uranium. Olympic Dam is a fully integrated processing facility from ore to metal.
“We also added to our copper assets in SA with the acquisition of OZ Minerals, bringing their mines at Carrapateena and Prominent Hill into our portfolio.”
Basto also highlighted BHP’s Oak Dam copper project in SA, where the company was recently given the green light to commence its next phase of exploration.
“Oak Dam is an exciting prospect and potential growth option,” he said. “We’re undertaking further exploration to better define the resource and inform our future planning.
“Anyone who is familiar with the geography of the Gawler Craton will at once see the opportunity that all of this presents.”
Basto said it is important to not look at these mines and projects individually but rather synergetically, with the potential to “build a copper province that could put SA on the global copper map”.
Basto will oversee the integration of Prominent Hill and Carrapateena into BHP’s portfolio, through which he has three core objectives.
“Firstly, (I’m focused on) delivering safe and reliable operations at Olympic Dam, Prominent Hill and Carrapateena,” he said.
“Secondly, (I’m focused on) integrating the BHP and OZ Minerals businesses with a focus on people and culture. And thirdly, (on) developing options to build a copper province here in South Australia.”
Basto said for South Australia to realise its copper opportunity, collaboration is needed between the local mining industry and state and federal governments to support policy choices and investments that can enable South Australia to compete on the global marketplace.
“Let me provide some global perspective,” Basto said. “According to Geoscience Australia, Australia is ranked number two in the world for copper resources but number eight in the world for mined copper production.
“Last year, BHP produced more than 1.5 million tonnes of copper globally.
“This year, we expect to produce around 200 thousand tonnes from Olympic Dam. And around 115 thousand tonnes from Carrapateena and Prominent Hill.
“Here in South Australia, we have nearly 70 per cent of Australia’s copper resources but we produce just under 30 per cent of Australia’s mined copper production.
“The Gawler Craton has huge un-tapped potential… just imagine for a moment that we can develop a mining hub centred around a smelter that brings even more of SA’s high quality copper to global customers.”
BHP is putting plenty of eggs in the South Australia basket, with a committed vision to maximise the state’s copper future.
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