The South Australian Government has announced a plan to triple the size of the copper industry in South Australia, potentially creating thousands of jobs and boosting the economy with billions of dollars of private sector investment.
The South Australian Chamber of Mines and Energy held a major lunch on Friday where the important news for the South Australian resources industry was announced by the Hon Tom Koutsantonis.
The government’s copper strategy aims to address the challenges faced by industry to enable the state’s copper production to increase to one million tonnes per annum by 2030.
The strategy’s vision is that by 2030 South Australia will be the leading contributor to Australia’s position as the world’s third largest copper producer.
SACOME chief executive Jason Kuchel said that the industry welcomed the South Australian government’s continued focus on realising our resources wealth, and the new copper strategy was an excellent step in this direction.
“Collaboration between industry and the SA Government will help return the prominence that copper once enjoyed in SA, where it was the backbone of our economy,” he said.
“The copper strategy rightly acknowledges that this State has massive potential for new copper discoveries, together with the further development potential of our known resources.
“Realising South Australia’s copper potential will reap big rewards for the entire State in terms of investment attraction and economic activity, and ultimately jobs, royalties, service sector opportunities and development of regional infrastructure and services.”
OZ Minerals, who owns Prominent Hill, comprising an open pit and underground copper-gold mines, as well as Carrapateena, a copper-gold project in South Australia, welcomed the announcement.
“South Australia holds 68 per cent of Australia’s known copper reserves, however we only produce 30 per cent of the nation’s copper output,” said Andrew Cole, OZ Minerals CEO and Managing Director.
“The State Government’s plan to triple the size of the copper industry and make South Australia a copper mining powerhouse should be congratulated.
“The growth of the copper industry will generate huge economic benefits for South Australia and benefit local businesses, service providers, skilled workers as well as the wider community.”
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