BHP green light for $130m Olympic Dam upgrade, 100 jobs

BHP is investing $130 million in upgrades at its Olympic Dam copper refinery, creating about 100 short-term jobs over the next two years.

• Major project status for Olympic Dam expansion
• BHP bosses: Olympic Dam has ‘mouth-watering’ potential
• Olympic Dam’s 30-year milestone

BHP is investing $130 million in upgrades at its Olympic Dam copper refinery, creating about 100 short-term jobs over the next two years.

The Advertiser can exclusively reveal that the global mining giant has approved the investment for works scheduled to take place between June this year and April 2021.

BHP said the investment would improve operational stability and support sustainable growth options over the long term for the operations, where copper has been mined for more than 30 years.

The refinery is the final step in the copper production process. The investment will cover replacement of the existing refinery crane as it reaches the end of its operational life.

The 75-tonne crane is used to submerge 360-kilogram copper plates into the refinery’s 770 individual electrolytic cells, which extract the purified final product that Olympic Dam exports to global customers. The crane can carry over 20 tonnes at a time.

A file photo of the refinery (with the crane in the background) at BHP's Olympic Dam operations. Pic: BHP

Other works include installing a new automated cathode stripping machine, used to separate pure copper sheets from stainless steel cathode mother plates; refurbishing the anode preparation machine used to smooth the edges of the anodes to optimise surface contact within the refinery cells; and refurbishing the agitator tank which makes sure that gold and silver that sink to the bottom of refinery cells during the electrolytic process remain in liquid form to be recovered and turned into bullion.

File photo of Laura Tyler. Picture: Luis Enrique Ascui/The Australian.

Asset President Olympic Dam Laura Tyler said the project will increase Olympic Dam’s asset integrity and reliability. “Copper cathode from Olympic Dam is sought-after for its quality and purity, and this investment will help us generate that world-class product more safely and efficiently.”

BHP completed a $350 million upgrade of its smelter in 2018.

In February this year, the SA Government granted major project status to BHP’s rebooted plans for a significant, staged expansion of the Olympic Dam mine that could deliver more than 1800 jobs.

The $3 billion proposal is markedly different from the gargantuan expansion that was ultimately shelved in 2012, and uses new technology to achieve a near doubling of the mine’s annual production.