The Premier has continued his tour of the South Australia's north, visiting sites owned and operated by BHP. The company is once again spruiking plans to grow its South Australian operations which could be aided by a multi-billion dollar "government funded" desalination plant.
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TVTranscript
00:00 The Premier pouring over the Olympic Dam smelter.
00:07 Peter Malinowskis in the States Far North alongside BHP, the firm talking up its growth
00:13 plans in South Australia which include a possible new mine and a bigger smelter for copper.
00:19 The excitement we have for the province is being able to feed our central smelter and
00:23 refining complex from the many mines in the region.
00:27 The miner has developed, then dropped, numerous expansion projects in SA over the last dozen
00:32 years like in 2020 when it backed away from a $3.5 billion enlargement of Olympic Dam.
00:40 Since then BHP has taken over Oz Minerals, gaining control of the Carapatina and Prominent
00:46 Hill mines.
00:47 It has also continued exploration of the Oak Dam site with demand for copper expected to
00:53 increase in coming decades due to its use in renewable energy technologies.
00:58 If there is more copper being mined in SA that means not just more jobs, highly paid
01:03 jobs but it also means potentially a lot more royalty income.
01:07 When Olympic Dam was found it was remarked that we had found the elephant and now we
01:13 are starting to look for the herd and the herd is starting to become uncovered.
01:17 Mining at Oak Dam and growing the capacity of Olympic Dam needs water.
01:22 That's why BHP is helping fund a more than $200 million feasibility study for a proposed
01:27 state government owned desalination plant on Eyre Peninsula.
01:31 The Premier offering reassurance about the plan.
01:34 The state government is not going to build an over $5 billion desal plant and pipeline
01:41 unless it is commercial both for BHP and for the government itself.
01:46 It's also going to take time.
01:47 A final decision on the Northern Water Project won't be made for two years while it will
01:52 take BHP at least that long to make a call on upgrading its smelter.
01:57 [BLANK_AUDIO]