Tag: South Australia

South Australia remains among the world’s most attractive jurisdictions for mining and mineral exploration investment, according to the Fraser Institute’s influential annual survey. The latest survey, released on February 23, ranks the state seventh out of 78 mining regions, with Nevada topping the list and WA coming in fourth place. South Australia ranked eighth on the Best Practices Mineral Potential Index, which rates the jurisdiction based on how much its geology encourages exploration investment. The survey is a massive vote of confidence in the mining industry, which plays a crucial role in driving economic development, investment, exploration and export opportunities for the state. In 2018-2019, the production value of mining contributed $6.9b to South Australia’s economic development, $311m in royalties...

SOUTH Australia has a solid strategy in place for copper growth in the state. Firstly, to accelerate exploration and discovery; secondly to develop innovative infrastructure, services and research; and thirdly, engage to build industry and community capacity. BHP’s Olympic Dam is certainly reaping the benefits of the first step, with South Australia approving its expansion plans in February of this year. The $3b proposal would increase Olympic Dam’s annual copper production from 200,000t to up to 350,000t and increase the level of gold, silver and uranium production. SA Energy and Mining Minister Dan van Holst Pellekaan declared BHP’s proposed expansion of Olympic Dam a major development as a key milestone in this important project. “Olympic Dam is already the State’s...

Renascor Resources recently received an enormous funding boost from Dutch export credit agency (ECA) Atradius for its Siviour graphite mine in South Australia. Emma Davies spoke with managing director David Christensen about how this unique support covers a large amount of the capital costs of the project and places the company in an excellent, low-risk position moving forward. Q. Can you please explain how Renascor was able to secure backing from the Dutch export credit agency (ECA) Atradius for its Siviour graphite mine in South Australia? Renascor Resources’ plan to turn Australia’s largest graphite resource into a producing mine by 2021 has been greatly boosted by Atradius’ recent funding support. We have received in-principle support for up to 60pc of...

AS the largest single deposit of uranium in the world, and one of its most significant deposits of copper, gold and silver, BHP’s Olympic Dam is one of the globe’s premier poly metals mines. The underground mine consists of about 450km of underground roads and tunnels, and ore is transported via a fully-automated subterranean rail network to the crushing, storing and ore hoisting facilities. The mine has a fully integrated ore to metal processing facility that utilises two grinding circuits used to extract high quality copper concentrate from sulphide ore through a flotation extraction process. Olympic Dam’s metallurgical complex includes a grinding and concentrating circuit, a hydrometallurgical plant that uses solvent extraction circuits for copper and uranium, a copper smelter,...

The Carrapateena mine will enter production in 2019. Image: OZ Minerals.   BY ELIZABETH FABRI   THE South Australian resources sector has had a strong year. But dwindling exploration points to a far greater issue for the State, as it looks to ramp up production and continue the search for the next Olympic Dam-style deposit.   More exploration is needed in South Australia: that is the message Association of Mining and Exploration Companies (AMEC) chief executive Warren Pearce had for delegates at the recent South Australia Resources and Energy Investment conference (SAREIC) in Adelaide. “Greenfields mineral exploration, the heartbeat of mining, is flat lining in South Australia,” Mr Pearce said. “Nationally mineral exploration has been rebounding since 2016, but the...

The Whyalla steelworks operation. Image Arrium. Photography Sean Kelly.     By Elizabeth Fabri HOME to 68 per cent of the nation’s copper and 25 per cent of the world’s known uranium, South Australia’s resources industry is an irrefutable force. Additional state government support, which aims to kick-start investment and sector growth, reflects its importance. South Australia, affectionately known as the ‘Copper Kingdom’, has been a key contributor to Australia’s mining industry as far back as the 1800s, and today boasts the world’s largest uranium deposit and the country’s largest underground mine, Olympic Dam. In 2014/15 the State’s minerals and petroleum sector had a gross value of product at $5.958 billion and regionally the industry contributed a gross regional product of $6.377bn....