Construction has commenced at OZ Minerals’ Carrapateena copper mine, paving the way for almost $1 billion in potential investment in South Australia’s North and more than 1000 jobs.

Premier Jay Weatherill has officially open a planned 5.5 kilometre underground tunnel to access and mine one of Australia’s largest undeveloped copper deposits, located 160 kilometres north of Port Augusta. If the detailed exploration is successful and the project is progressed it is expected to generate more than 1000 construction to production jobs in the next few years; with an anticipated mine life of over 20 years.

The $65 million contract to build the exploration tunnel and associated infrastructure was awarded to PYBAR Mining Services.

The Carrapateena iron-oxide copper-gold deposit was discovered in 2005 with the assistance of a State Government Plan for Accelerating Exploration (PACE) collaborative drilling grant.

In January 2015, the State Government entered into a $10 million agreement for OZ Mineral’s to relocate its head office to South Australia, and enter into a research partnership aimed at unlocking deeply covered mineral deposits.

The State Government has also co-invested $18 million with OZ Minerals to support research into a demonstration trial of a copper concentrate treatment processing plant.

The South Australian Copper Strategy, formulated with input from the government, industry, scientific organisations and services suppliers, seeks to triple South Australia’s output of copper to one million tonnes by 2030.

Carrapateena is a world-class deposit that has the potential to trigger almost $1 billion in investment and create more than 1000 jobs.