Press release

Bureau Veritas and BHP completed heap leach technology partnership trial for Olympic Dam

Jun. 19 2019

Bureau Veritas Minerals is proud to have worked with BHP for the last 7 years in confirming heap leach viability for the Olympic Dam mine. The multi-million dollar project trial in South Australia has now successfully determined the viability of developed technology to extract copper, uranium, gold and silver from a range of Olympic Dam ores. These results demonstrate a great potential value to the Australian Mining Industry.

This exciting program commenced in 2012 at Bureau Veritas’ Wingfield site as a small-scale heap leach facility and operated in partnership with BHP, with South Australian Government support.

Together with BHP, Bureau Veritas can now confirm that the project has delivered safe production of high quality copper.

Clint Bowker, BV Manager of Major Projects stated “The test work showed how BHP and Bureau Veritas could partner to develop and deliver technology-driven innovative solutions to greater South Australian Resources. Proving that organisations can work collaboratively to resolve challenging ore bodies. The facility will remain available as a resource to the mining community for further research as the facility will be in Care & Maintenance for the future."

Click here to watch a video about the trial