Olympic Dam, South Australia

Olympic Dam, known colloqially to the local residents as "OD", is located some 550km north of the South Australian capital, Adelaide. It is the site of a copper,uranium, gold and silver mine as well as an integrated metallurgical processing plant. File:Austmap.gif

The deposit was discovered by WMC Resources Ltd, (previously Western Mining Corporation) in 1975 and started production in 1987. The mine is currently mined by underground mining method called sub level open stoping, using modern and highly productive mining equipment. The March 2005 mine production rate is an annualised 9.1 million tonnes. By any yardstick, it is a large mine. 2005 metal production is thought to be in excess of 200,000 tonnes copper, 1500 tonnes U3O8 plus gold and silver. The copper and uranium oxide are exported through Port Adelaide.