Water in the Eyre: Northern Water project business case predicts more than 4200 jobs would flow from $5bn desal plant

A $5bn water desalination plant and 600km pipeline network on Eyre Peninsula would transform our economy and supercharge a range of major industrial projects, a business case has found.

Pumping more than $5bn of public money into a giant Eyre Peninsula water desalination plant and pipeline network would create more than 4200 jobs and generate “game-changing economic developments for the state”, says Premier Peter Malinauskas.

Releasing the Northern Water project business case summary, Mr Malinauskas highlighted forecasts showing an average annual $5.2bn boost to the state’s $134bn economy.

In an interview with The Advertiser, he said the 260 megalitre desalination plant and 600km pipeline network to SA’s north would create a reliable water supply essential to dramatically expand BHP’s copper production and kickstart private sector hydrogen and green iron operations.

The Northern Water business case finds the project would kickstart a tripling of copper mining volumes, generating $9bn in extra royalties for the state’s coffers.

Premier Peter Malinauskas, who is touting a green economic opportunity for SA. Picture: Matt Loxton

The project, estimated to cost more than $5bn, is a linchpin of Mr Malinauskas’s bid to make SA a global green energy superpower, which he will tout during a three-day Upper Spencer Gulf economic summit starting on Sunday.

A final investment decision on the Northern Water project, the cost of which would be recouped by long-term water supply contracts with BHP and other industrial users, is expected in the first half of 2026 after a major Environmental Impact Statement.

Asked his vision for the project, Mr Malinauskas declared this was to “unlock prosperity and growth for the state in a sustainable way on the back of the global decarbonisation of industry”.

“We’re talking about a lot more copper being produced. Copper being beneficiated (processed) at a higher grade in South Australia. Green iron production. Hydrogen production. These are all game-changing economic developments for the state,” he said.

“ … When it comes to global decarbonisation, because of the fact that we have 70 per cent of the country’s copper, because we have the most accessible coincident wind and solar resource, because we’re the home of three smelters, because we have the only structural steel-producing facility in the country, because we’re the home of magnetite (used for green iron) – combined – mean we can be the home of the economic opportunity out of that race to decarbonise.”

Premier Peter Malinauskas wants to unlock prosperity and growth for the state in a sustainable way. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Ben Clark

Mr Malinauskas stressed Northern Water needed to be underpinned by commercial contracted agreements on the sale of the water with big industrial customers, principally BHP.

This would mean SA Water bills would not be impacted. The EIS would cost between $200m and $230m, for which Mr Malinauskas said a contribution from private sector partners like BHP was expected after “robust negotiations”.

BHP's Olympic Dam copper smelter. Picture: Supplied by BHP

BHP believes SA can become one of the world’s biggest copper miners, producing as much as $6bn annually to satisfy surging global demand for electric vehicles and renewable energy.

Copper is a crucial component for renewable energy technology like electric vehicles and global shortages are forecast without massive new supplies, short-circuiting the goal of net zero emissions by 2050.