Singapore 04/10/2016 - Production at BHP Billiton’s Olympic Dam copper-gold mine remained suspended following the power outage across South Australia last week, the company said on Monday.
Olympic Dam is now receiving some power from the grid and with additional generation capacity sourced and connected, this will ensure asset stability and integrity of the operation until full power is restored and operations can resume as normal, BHP said.
“We continue to work closely with Electranet [South Australia’s electricity provider] and the state government to ensure power is safely and fully restored as soon as possible,” it added said.
The company will provide information on the impact the outage has on its production in its September quarter operational review due for release on October 19.
BHP has suspended production at the mine after severe storms caused a massive power blackout in South Australia last Wednesday. Power from back-up generators has been diverted to maintain critical operations at the remote site.
The mine produced 203,000 tonnes of copper in fiscal 2016.
Meanwhile, OZ Minerals expects its copper production to remain within its annual guidance despite the suspension at its Prominent Hill copper-gold mine due to the power issue since last Wednesday, the company said Monday.
Oz Minerals expects Prominent Hill to produce 115,000-125,000 tonnes of copper in 2016 calendar year.
Electricity transmission to OZ Minerals’ Prominent Hill mine is expected to be progressively restored in the next seven to ten days, the company said.
Production of concentrate will recommence upon the resumption of full power supply to the site while it continues to prepare ore stockpiles for when its processing plant resumes operation, the company added. The processing plant which is on standby has had its maintenance programs brought forward.
Onsite generators at Prominent Hill continue to provide limited power with some additional capacity being put in place to assist with underground production, the company said, adding that it is reviewing other options to provide larger power generation.
Mining at Prominent Hill’s open pit operations remain unaffected while its underground mine has since resumed limited operations.