The Olympic Dam copper mine is out of action for a week after electricity transmission towers transporting power to northern South Australia were damaged by wild storms.
The mine, about 560 kilometres north of Adelaide, has temporarily halted its operations, and its surface infrastructure was switched to “care and maintenance” mode, running off backup generators.
Tom Koutsantonis, South Australian energy minister, told reporters on Friday: “Olympic Dam will cease mining operations for five to seven days … It was a dramatic night.”
BHP said it was working with electricity transmission infrastructure group ElectraNet to determine the extent of the damage and the timeline for fixing it.
Brazil to sign deal with BHP, Vale over Mariana dam collapse on October 25, sources say (from Mining.Com)
"The miner stated that the parties are negotiating a settlement proposal that would provide a total financial value of approximately R$170 billion ($31.7 billion) on a 100% basis to be delivered to the people, communities and environment impacted by the dam failure.
BHP said the negotiations between the parties are ongoing and no final agreement has been reached on the settlement amount or terms.
Vale on Friday forecast that its third quarter earnings will reflect 5.3 billion reais ($930.90 million) in new liabilities related to the Mariana dam collapse"