The South Australian Government has announced the commencement of an application and assessment process for BHP’s planned smelter and refinery expansion at Olympic Dam via a notification in the South Australian Government Gazette.

The notification is a step forward for BHP’s copper growth plans in South Australia and follows an update in the company’s FY24 full year results earlier this week, which outlined a phased strategy to increase production in SA to 500,000 tonnes of refined copper cathode by the early 2030s and then potentially up to 650,000 tonnes by the mid-2030s – up from ~322,000 tonnes last financial year.

BHP Asset President Copper South Australia, Anna Wiley, said: “Today’s announcement is an important step for BHP and the South Australian Government as we work together towards our shared ambition to significantly increase copper production in this state.”

“We are already growing BHP’s copper production in South Australia with projects and studies underway at all of our operating sites, and we’re moving at pace to potentially double our current production by the middle of the next decade.”

BHP’s copper province in South Australia comprises the Olympic Dam, Prominent Hill and Carrapateena underground mines, which provide volumes of copper concentrate to a centralised smelter and refinery complex at Olympic Dam that produces refined copper cathode. The company is also progressing the Oak Dam exploration prospect.

BHP this week announced an Inferred Mineral Resource at Oak Dam of 1.34 billion tonnes at 0.66% copper grade and 0.33 grams per tonne gold grade, within which is a mineralisation area that contains 220 million tonnes at 1.96% copper grade and 0.68 grams per tonne gold grade (at a 1% copper cut-off).

A final investment decision on phase one of the smelter and refinery expansion is currently scheduled in the first half of FY27.