JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Underground ore mining at diversified miner BHP Billiton’s Olympic Dam copper/gold and uranium mine, in Australia, was continuing, while an investigation into the cause of the mechanical failure of one of the mine’s haulage systems got under way.

The fully automated haulage system at the mine’s Clark Shaft, which was the primary system used to transport ore from underground to the surface for processing, had failed during operations on Tuesday night.

No one had been injured in the incident.

The diversified miner was working with inspectors from the South Australian occupational health and safety agency, SafeWork SA, and had assembled its own investigation team, which would start its work at the weekend.

The mine’s planning team was also determining what impact the temporary closure of the Clark Shaft would have on mine production, planning schedules and budgets, BHP Billiton said in a statement.

This work would likely be completed within the next two weeks.

Ore was currently being hoisted to the surface through the secondary haulage system at the Whenan Shaft, the company added.

Newswire Reuters had quoted Macquarie Bank as saying that the world copper market could lose about 50 000 t of supply this year owing to the incident at the mine, which would lead to a copper deficit.

The mine had produced 194 000 t of copper and 4 000 t of uranium in the 2009 financial year.

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