BHP Billiton tight-lipped about virtual shut-down of Olympic Dam
Accident slashes Olympic Dam output – THE AUSTRALIAN Matt Chambers | October 08, 2009
BHP Billiton’s giant Olympic Dam underground mine in South Australia could be running at less than half capacity for months after a mechanical failure sent a full load of ore plummeting to the bottom of its 800m-deep main shaft.
BHP is tight-lipped about the incident at the country’s largest underground mine. The incident could result in suspension of the lion’s share of Olympic Dam’s sales of copper, uranium and gold, worth $150 million a month at current spot prices.
The miner would not comment on what happened at the mine, apart from saying the haulage system in its Clark shaft was damaged by a mechanical failure at about 10.30pm local time on Tuesday night and a secondary haulage system was operating.
The Clark shaft brings almost all of Olympic Dam’s ore to the surface.
Industry sources said there had been substantial damage to the inside of the shaft and to the gears and wheels that bring the ore to the surface…………The shutdown of the mine’s main shaft will end a two-year run of record production at an operation that has always struggled to run at capacity.
It comes as production is down at BHP’s biggest copper mine, Escondida, in Chile……….The failure at Olympic Dam comes as BHP is planning a massive expansion next decade that could cost $22bn and would eventually create the world’s biggest open-cut mine. http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,26179767-643,00.html
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