Minerals

Prominent Hill and Olympic Dam mines dominate 70% of Australia's copper

Prominent Hill and Olympic Dam mines dominate 70% of Australia's copper
The Gawler Craton region has major South Australian copper mines are at Olympic Dam (BHP) and Prominent Hill (OZ Minerals).

South Australia has 68% of Australia’s copper – a key element for a more energy-efficient world. Australia, in turn, has the highest economic copper resources (13%) behind Chile (28%) in the world – but ranks fifth as the biggest producer.

South Australia’s strategy is to triple production and become the world’s third largest copper producer by 2030. The target was to increase the 5000 jobs in copper industry by another 10,000.  A major advance in making South Australian copper the world’s best and cleanest copper came with $18 million research funded in 2015 by OZ Minerals and the state government.

The major South Australian copper mines are at Olympic Dam (BHP) and Prominent Hill (OZ Minerals). These are part of the massive, but deep, amounts of copper in Gawler Craton region.

OZ Minerals in 2016 announced a $12 million second decline to access its Prominent Hill underground cooper deposits. OZ also has an interest in the Carrapateena copper project in the Gawler Craton. It is involved with Minotaur Exploration in a possible copper mine at Mount Woods, near Prominent Hill.

OZ Minerals and Hillgrove Resources are two of the three (the other is BHP) companies exporting copper from South Australia. Both have moved their head offices to Adelaide with state government support.

Hillgrove Resources has the Kanmantoo copper mine in the Adelaide Hills.

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