Olympic Dam copper mine halted on power outages, severe electrical storms
18th October 2024
By: Reuters
Global miner BHP's Olympic Dam copper mine faces power disruptions after severe electrical storms ravaged transmission infrastructure in the northern regions of South Australia, a company spokesperson told Reuters on Friday.
Australia's second-biggest copper mine, which is located 560 km north of Adelaide, has suspended operations and switched its surface infrastructure to minimal maintenance using on-site backup generators, the BHP spokesperson said.
"ElectraNet (electricity transmission infrastructure group) crews are working to restore power as soon as possible and we are working with them to better understand the scale of the impact and recovery timelines," the spokesperson said.
The Australian Financial Review first reported the halt at Olympic Dam and its supporting town Roxby Downs, saying seven 40-50 meter-high transmission towers across two power lines were damaged, crippling the mine's power supply.
This latest disruption at the mine echoes the costly 2016 blackout, which idled the mine for two weeks and slashed daily copper output by 567 t, based on 2015 annual production figures.
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