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Carrapateena Mine construction officially launched in outback South Australia
A new copper mine in South Australia's north is expected to create more than 1,000 jobs during the construction phase.

Premier Jay Weatherill officially launched the construction of the Carrapateena Mine, 160 kilometres north of Port Augusta at the top of Spencer Gulf, today.

It followed the signing of a partnership between mining company Oz Minerals and the traditional owners of the land, the Kokatha people.

Construction was already underway on a 5.5-kilometre tunnel to reach the copper deposit, which sits about 500 metres below the ground.

The official launch was delayed until today, however, due to a state-wide electricity blackout during September.

While the construction of the mine is expected to take just over two years, the project is yet to receive final approval from the Oz Minerals board until a pre-feasibility study is completed.

Oz Minerals chairman Neil Hamilton said the board had made a firm commitment.

"There are points along the way where reassessments and affirmations are obtained but we are going forward," he said.

Mr Hamilton said it was too early to definitively tell how many more deposits the mine could hold but it would at least have a 20-year lifespan.

"I would be surprised and disappointed if we don't see mission creep and see us taking much more of this resource," he said.

"This could be a major mining project for a long, long time. I don't think I'll see the end of it."

Kokatha Aboriginal Corporation chairman Chris Larkin welcomed the partnership.

"Aboriginal people have always been systematically excluded from mainstream economic activity and what we say here is that we will give off those terrible stereotypes and we will get on and do business," he said.



Doubt cast on Whyalla plans
Doubt has been cast on the Adelaide-based company's plans to build a $150 million copper concentrate treatment plant at Whyalla.

Oz Minerals signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding in May with troubled steelmaker Arrium to share its port and other facilities.Mr Hamilton was questioned whether the uncertain future of the steelworks, which is up for sale after going into administration earlier this year, would impact on the company's plans.

"We have always said that while we were exploring Whyalla, we weren't doing so in exclusion of other options," he said.

"We are at an early stage of negotiations and discussions and it wouldn't be in our interests to disclose what those options are."

Mr Weatherill said Whyalla had not been ruled out as a venture for Oz Minerals.

"We are having the most constructive and assertive discussions we possibly can with the Federal Government [and] with [Arrium's] administrator to make sure there is a future for Whyalla, which could also include a processing plant," he said.

He said Oz Minerals' investment in the region was a "massive vote of confidence" in the state's economy.

"There are going to be benefits that flow to whichever of the Upper Spence Gulf towns houses the processing plant," Mr Weatherill said.