South Australia's Copper Exports Reach AU$3.1 Billion in 2025

Copper operations in South Australia

South Australia is home to almost 70 percent of Australia’s economic copper reserves.

Major mines include BHP's (ASX:BHP,NYSE:BHP,LSE:BHP) Olympic Dam, which is located 560 kilometres from Adelaide and holds an investment of around AU$840 million. The Carrapateena project, also by BHP, is located 472 kilometres northwest of Adelaide with a production rate of about 4.25 million tonnes per annum.

Another copper asset by the mining giant is Prominent Hill, situated around 650 kilometres northwest of Adelaide, with a production rate of approximately 4 million tonnes per annum.

“BHP is the largest producer of copper in the world, and we expect to grow our copper base from 1.7 million tonnes to around 2.5 million tonnes per annum,” said BHP COO Edgar Basto in an October 2025 statement.

“Achieving that scale requires significant copper growth, and we are fortunate to have a world-class copper province right here in South Australia to do just that," the executive added.

In the same month, the Australian and Queensland governments announced they would allocate AU$600 million to save Glencore's (LSE:GLEN,OTCPL:GLCNF) Mount Isa copper smelter and Townsville refinery.

Mount Isa has been around for nearly 100 years, with the Queensland mine's discovery dating back to January 1924. It is among the world’s largest mining complexes and is Australia’s second largest copper producer.

Together with Townsville, the assets are regarded by Glencore as “strategic national assets that underpin the copper supply chain across Queensland and the country’s critical minerals strategy.”

Rex Minerals, a private company, is developing its own copper-gold asset, the Hillside project, which sits 12 kilometres south of the Ardrossan township on the Yorke Peninsula. Hillside is an iron oxide copper gold deposit that contains a resource of 1.9 million tonnes of copper and 1.5 million ounces of gold.

Meanwhile, Havilah Resources (ASX:HAV,OTCPL:HAVRF) holds one of the largest underdeveloped open-pit copper deposits in Australia. Called Kalkaroo, the project contains 1.1 million tonnes of copper, 3.1 million ounces of gold and 23,200 tonnes of cobalt in the measured, indicated and inferred categories.

South Australia said both assets are progressing through to development, while other deposits, including BHP’s Oak Dam, Havilah’s Mutooroo and Coda Minerals' (ASX:COD,OTCPL:CODMF) Elizabeth, are showing high prospectivity.

The Geological Survey for South Australia is also “ramping up its focus on minerals and other resources considered essential to the energy transition,” which includes copper.

Copper market to tighten in 2026

Experts anticipate rising copper demand and tightening supply in 2026.

In its latest forecast, published in October, the International Copper Study Group said that copper mine production is expected to increase 2.3 percent in 2026 to 23.86 million tonnes.

Meanwhile, refined copper use is set to grow by 2.1 percent to 28.73 million tonnes this year, outpacing production growth and leading to a 150,000 tonne deficit by the end of the year.

In an email to the Investing News Network (INN), Natalie Scott-Gray, senior metals demand analyst at StoneX, said the average copper price could rise to US$10,635 per tonne this year.

For his part, Jacob White, exchange-traded fund product manager at Sprott Asset Management, told INN that “while new projects may add tonnage at the margin, demand growth is likely to outpace any supply additions, which points to further supply deficits that escalate over the coming years.”

Against that backdrop, South Australia believes it is poised to contribute to supply.

“We recognise that current prices are at historic highs, but the global economic drivers for copper suggest demand could remain buoyant for the foreseeable future,” Koutsantonis said.

He said noted South Australia is well placed to meet copper demand with its “abundant proven and prospective copper resources,” underlining that the state is not resting on its laurels.

“Ramping up production from existing and new deposits takes risk, effort and long-term commitment from private sector explorers, investors and developers, and the support of governments and communities," he added.