Olympic Dam is one of the world’s most significant deposits of copper, gold, and uranium.
Located 560 kilometres north of Adelaide, South Australia, Olympic Dam is a part of BHP Minerals Australia operation. It’s made up of underground and surface operations and operates a fully integrated processing facility from ore to metal. It is located on the traditional lands of the Kokatha, Dieri, and Arabana people.
The mine has almost 700 kms of underground roads and tunnels. Another important statistic carried out by BHP is that the average Australian home contains 90 kg of copper in the wiring pipes and compliances.
Ore mined underground is hauled by an automated train system to crushing, storage and ore hoisting facilities, or trucked directly to the surface via declines. The metallurgical complex consists of grinding, flotation and leach circuits, a hydrometallurgical plant incorporating solvent extraction circuits for copper and uranium, copper smelter, copper refinery and a recovery circuit for precious metals.