Olympic Dam aims to double capacity

摘要

A feasibility study is due to be delivered by the end of the year into more than doubling the size of Olympic Dam copper-uranium mine 560km north of Adelaide. A further phase could see capacity nearly tripled. The mine, operated by Western Mining, is turning into one of Australia's great ore bodies following its discovery in 1975 buried 300m below sediment and sand. Measuring 6km by up to 3km, it is estimated to contain around 2,000mt of ore. Proven and probable ore reserves at the mine are already sufficient for 145 years of production at the present rate of 3mt a year, following the recent 88m dollars phase 2 optimisation project which lifted copper output to 85,000tpa, uranium to l,500tpa, gold to 30,000oz and silver to 400,000oz. An additional, known resource, yet to be proven as reserves, would be sufficient for a further 200 years of production at 3mtpa.