Page 82 - Annual Report 2020

1.9.2 Minerals Australia

The Minerals Australia asset group includes operated assets in Western Australia, Queensland,
New South Wales and South Australia.

Coober Pedy

Olympic Dam

Port Augusta

Port Lincoln
Adelaide
Victor Harbor
Kangaroo
South Australia Island
Olympic Dam Port Hwy

s1001_v1
Copper asset

Olympic Dam
Overview Key developments during FY2020
Located 560 kilometres north of Adelaide, Olympic Dam is one Olympic Dam achieved solid underground mine performance in
of the world’s most significant deposits of copper, gold, silver FY2020 with strong development metres, as well as record annual
and uranium. gold production. Underground development into the Southern
Olympic Dam consists of underground and surface operations Mine Area progressed to plan over the year, and provided access
and operates a fully integrated processing facility from ore to to higher copper grade ore. Preparatory work was undertaken
metal. Ore mined underground is hauled by an automated train in the September 2019 quarter related to the replacement of the
system to crushing, storage and ore hoisting facilities, or trucked refinery crane with the physical replacement and commissioning
directly to the surface via declines. expected to be completed in the March 2021 quarter.
The metallurgical complex consists of grinding, flotation and leach Looking ahead
circuits, a hydrometallurgical plant incorporating solvent extraction Preparations are well advanced for the next Smelter Campaign
circuits for copper and uranium, copper smelter, copper refinery Maintenance to be executed early in FY2022. Olympic Dam has
and a recovery circuit for precious metals. a range of future growth options under consideration as part
of its sustained, long-term growth strategy, from incremental
debottlenecking through to large scale investments. A third
phase of exploration drilling on the Oak Dam project has been
completed with additional geotechnical and geo-metallurgical
data collected to assist in the understanding of the deposit.
Further drilling will be conducted in FY2021, which will inform
our next steps with the project.

80 BHP Annual Report 2020