Carrapateena mine

The Carrapateena mine is a large copper mine under development in South Australia's Far North region 100 km southeast of Olympic Dam and approximately 160 km north of Port Augusta. Carrapateena represents one of the largest copper reserves in Australia and in the world having estimated reserves of 292 million tonnes of ore grading 1.31% copper and 3.64 million oz of gold. It was discovered by explorer and metallurgist Rudie Gomez in 2005. The project was acquired by Oz Minerals in 2011, and the project was referred to the EPBC Act for Federal environmental approval in 2012. Construction of the decline to access the mine commenced in 2016. The mining technique used to extract the ore is sub-level caving. The Tjati decline was officially opened in November 2016. The company expected that it would take two years to complete excavation of the decline which is 7.5 km (4.7 mi) long and descends 600 m (2, 000 ft). The mine owners also have a signed agreement with the traditional owners of the land, the Kokatha people. The company announced board approval for continued development on 24 August 2017, expecting to spend A$916 million on development before the mine would begin to produce ore in late 2019. The first copper concentrate was produced in December 2019, by which time the mine had cost between $950 million and $980 million. Mine life is forecast to be about 20 years. During the c

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