South Australia's copper strategy refresh

The South Australian government asked for feedback on how South Australia can realise the full potential of its vast copper resources to support the global green energy transition.

South Australia accounts for more than 69% of Australia's demonstrated economic reserves of copper and is home to several copper mines including Olympic Dam, which is Australia's largest. Global demand for copper is expected to double over the next 30 years because of its importance to the green energy transition that can help realise the goal of net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

We need a copper strategy that can support this growth and identify new opportunities for the future.

What is being decided?

The South Australian government released its first Copper Strategy in 2016. Feedback was sought on the development of a refreshed South Australian Copper Strategy.

Through this Copper Strategy we aim to:

  • set South Australia's ambition for copper production, exploration and benefit sharing
  • establish performance success targets for the sector across a range of outcomes including production, investment, and environment, social and governance (ESG) objectives
  • position the state to achieve sustained growth in production from our planned and existing mines
  • integrate the copper strategy into broader state priorities and major projects such as the State Prosperity Project and Northern Water Project
  • identify opportunities to accelerate or support copper exploration and further resource identification; and
  • identify new opportunities to capture additional value from the growth in the copper sector within our state’s borders.

Submissions closed 12 December 2024.

Find out more:

Next steps

All submissions will be considered as part of the development of the refreshed South Australian Copper Strategy. The strategy will be released in 2025.