BHP comes full circle at Cannington

At the turn of the century, Broken Hill Proprietary (BHP-N) was operating the world’s largest silver mine — its namesake deposit at Broken Hill in New South Wales, Australia. With a new century on the horizon, BHP is once again operating the world’s largest single silver mine — at Cannington, 160 km southeast of Cloncurry in Northwest Queensland.

In 1898, BHP was producing 30% of the world’s primary silver output (100 tonnes per year) from Broken Hill. Next year, Cannington will, at full production generate 6% of the world’s silver (750 tonnes).

Cannington began producing lead concentrates in October 1997, on time and on budget — some seven years and four months after its initial discovery.

The project has adopted sophisticated safety and environmental management practices, some of which were recognized when the project won the 1994 Queensland Premier’s Award for environmental excellence in mining.