The Pilbara is past its peak. Australia\u2019s coal sector is in decline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our rare earths industry is still in its infancy. The country needs a new mining hero, and BHP\u2019s Olympic Dam project could be the best bet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The mining giant would like to double production from its South Australian copper business\u00a0to about 650,000 tonnes a year by the middle of the 2030s.<\/a> Clearly, that\u2019s not guaranteed, but on Monday a potential stumbling block was taken off the table when BHP announced a 10-year logistics deal with Aurizon<\/a> worth about $1.5 billion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" BHP\u2019s Olympic Dam expansion could be Australian mining\u2019s next big thing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":26765,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15419,47],"tags":[17713,17714,7527],"class_list":["post-264744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aurizon","category-rail-news","tag-olympic-dam","tag-port-of-adelaide","tag-south-australia"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t