$350m Olympic Dam revamp to involve 1300 contractors during construction

BHP Billiton will be investing approximately $350 million towards the Olympic Dam smelter operations revamp in South Australia, with up to 1,300 contractors to be involved during peak construction.

According to Olympic Dam Asset President Jacqui McGill, this campaign for the smelter maintenance is going to be the biggest planned shutdown by BHP in the State.

“There will be 1,300 contractors at Olympic Dam during the peak of construction as teams work around the clock to dismantle, rebuild and upgrade integral components of the facility.

“Work is underway on site with teams preparing to dismantle old infrastructure and starting to take delivery of more than 350 material loads to support the project,” Ms McGill said.

The campaign will include:

• Rebuilding key elements of the smelter furnace
• Demolishing and building a new electric slag furnace
• Removing and replacing the five-story high electro static precipitator

“As always, the safety of our people and our contractors is paramount as we focus on this demanding and complex project which will help underpin stability and growth at Olympic Dam for many years to come,” Ms McGill said.

Further refinery asset maintenance works will also be done during the Olympic Dam’s planned downtime.

Works are expected to begin in August and will take more than 100 days to complete.

Source: BHP Billiton and Australian Mining