Political heavyweights in SA for major BHP announcement
A heavyweight lineup including the Premier, Treasurer and three federal ministers have flown into Olympic Dam in the state’s north with senior BHP leaders for an expected hundreds of millions of dollars investment announcement.
Premier Peter Malinauskas and Treasurer Tom Koutsantonis are at Olympic Dam today for a major announcement from mining giant BHP expected to centre on its world-class copper resource.
Others to have flown to the site include Federal Trade Minister Don Farrell, Resources Minister Madeleine King and Industry and Innovation Minister Tim Ayres, as well as some of BHP’s top brass: chief operating officer Edgar Basto and Copper SA asset president Anna Wiley.
BHP’s Olympic Dam, Carrapateena and Prominent Hill mines combined are the third-largest copper resource in the world. Silver, uranium and gold are also mined at the facilities.
InDaily is on the ground at Olympic Dam for the announcement expected at 2pm today where state and federal ministers were also touring the BHP Olympic Dam mine.
While BHP was tight-lipped on what the announcement would entail, it was expected it would demonstrate progress in unlocking South Australia’s copper province.
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The event followed a flurry of announcements from BHP regarding its South Australian assets in the past week.
The company recently signed a baseload agreement with Neoen – its third and largest renewable electricity supply agreement in the past four years.
That would see 100 megawatts of renewable energy supplied to power BHP’s Copper SA province and wa expected to meet about 70 per cent of the area’s electricity needs from renewable energy in FY30.
Wiley said the arrangement “reflects our commitment to more sustainable operations and long-term partnerships”.
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On Thursday last week, the company also announced modular construction firm Fleetwood Australia had commenced construction of 444 accommodation rooms and four laundry buildings from its Para Hills West facility for its Olympic Dam site.
Accommodation and other facilities would be needed to house an expected 1600-strong workforce for its major smelter maintenance work from mid-2027, ahead of the two-stage Smelter Refinery Expansion.
Olympic Dam’s South Village would be fitted out with up to 1080 new accommodation rooms, laundry facilities, kitchens, dining and recreation areas, while 496 existing accommodation rooms would be refurbished.
The investment was worth more than $100 million and was touted as “money being spent now, for the future” by Mining and Energy Minister Koutsantonis.
“Fleetwood, Ahrens, MPS and Ausco each bring strong expertise and experience to deliver this accommodation in support of our smelter maintenance project,” Wiley said regarding the announcement.
“We are very pleased to strengthen our partnerships with local SA and Australian businesses, creating local jobs and delivering value to communities.
“The 2027 smelter maintenance project is critical to maintaining our strong copper production, and will set us up for future construction of a two-stage smelter at Olympic Dam.”
BHP made a major bet on South Australian copper in 2023 after it acquired Oz Minerals for $9.6 billion delivering the company control of the Carrapateena and Prominent Hills mines.
BHP saw its South Australian earnings grow by 23 per cent in the past financial year, driven by higher-than-average realised prices for copper, gold and silver.
The group generated US$1.9 billion in the 2025 financial year from SA operations – up from US$1.6 billion the year before.
Meanwhile, at the company’s significant Olympic Dam site, a new mining access ramp had been approved and construction started.
