Name of the Project
Spence Growth Option (SGO) project.

Location
Spence copper mine, in the Atacama desert, northern Chile.

Project Owner/s
BHP.

Project Description
The SGO project will extend the mine life of the Spence opencut copper mine by more than 50 years. The project will convert 1.3-billion tonnes of measured and indicated mineral resources to hypogene sulphide ore reserves.

The project comprises a conventional large-scale sulphide concentrator for copper and molybdenum, with a nominal ore throughput capacity of 95 000 t/d.

SGO includes a new 1 000 ℓ/sec desalination plant, located at Mejillones Bay, and a 154 km water pipeline from the plant to the Spence mine site. These will be operated by a third party under a build, own, operate and transfer contract.

In the first ten years of operation, incremental production from SGO will be about 185 000 t/y of payable copper in concentrate and 4 000 t/y of payable molybdenum.

Potential Job Creation
About 5 000 jobs were created during the construction phase.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The project has an expected internal rate of return of 16% and an expected payback period of 4.5 years from first production.

Capital Expenditure
$2.46-billion.

Planned Start/End Date
The project achieved first production on schedule and on budget in December 2020.

Latest Developments
The SGO project achieved first copper production in December 2020, with first production of molybdenum expected in about mid-2021 following completion of the molybdenum plant. First copper sales are expected during the March 2021 quarter, while ramp-up to full production capacity is expected to take about 12 months.

The commissioning of the desalination plant and capitalisation of the associated $600-million lease (estimated) also occurred in December 2020.

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
None stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
BHP investor relations James Wear, tel +1 713 993 3737, email: James.Wear@bhpbilliton.com.