[2] Since it opened in 1988, an extensive underground mine, an integrated metallurgical processing plant and expansive open-air tailings storage facilities have been constructed.

[4] Given the energy density of uranium, this quantity is equal to a heating value of 820 TWh (equivalent to 705.5 megatonnes of TNT (2,952 PJ)) at a CANDU-typical burnup of 200 MWhthermal/kg.

[6] BHP made a successful bid for Western Mining Corporation in March 2005 and the offer was accepted by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission in April.

Xstrata had made prior takeover bids in late 2004,[9] and French state-run nuclear industrial company Areva had entered into what were rumoured to be partnership discussions with WMC Resources in February.

The expansion plan was expected to be a boon to the South Australian economy- forecast to generate an estimated 23,000 direct and indirect jobs.

Major new infrastructure would need to be constructed to facilitate the expansion, including a new airport at Olympic Dam, a rail link, a seawater desalination plant at Point Lowly, a barge-landing facility near Port Augusta and a worker village near Andamooka.

[11] BHP also began to develop relationships with scientific and academic institutions with the objective of facilitating relevant technical, environmental and policy research.

Academic research related to the Olympic Dam mine and funded by BHP Billiton has been undertaken by at least four major South Australian institutions since the take-over.

[15] In 2012, the Institute for Mineral and Energy Resources at the University of Adelaide was awarded over $2.5 million as part of the Australian Research Council's Industrial Transformation Program.

[14][17][18] John England, the vice president of technology, Uranium Customer Sector Group at BHP Billiton, was appointed to the advisory board of IMER from its establishment in 2009 until 2014.

"[22] BHP Billiton is also a full member of the Minerals Council of Australia's Uranium Forum, where the interests of the Olympic Dam project are represented.

[25] At the time of the BHP takeover, WMC Resources was investigating ways to expand the mine, including considering constructing a prospective seawater desalination plant at Port Bonython (Point Lowly).

In December 2008, South Australia's Premier Mike Rann revealed advice from BHP that the project would proceed as an open-cut operation.

[27] While being welcomed at the time by state and federal governments as a major boost to the economy, the proposed expansion of mining operations also attracted considerable criticism.

In order to meet the project's increasing demand for water, the BHP Billiton expansion plan proposed to construct a large-scale reverse osmosis seawater desalination plant at Point Lowly in upper Spencer Gulf.

[33] In August 2009, a South Australian parliamentary committee recommended that BHP Billiton investigate alternative locations for the proposed plant after concluding that brine could harm the marine ecology of upper Spencer Gulf.

[35] In February 2012, Arabana elder Kevin Buzzacott legally challenged the Commonwealth Environment Minister Tony Burke's environmental approval of the Olympic Dam mine expansion.

[3] The South Australian Mineral Resources and Energy Minister, Tom Koutsantonis in response to this announcement stated "they will be developed (and) it will bring a great deal of prosperity."

[44] Members of South Australia's business community believe that the state's future prosperity should not be dependent on the Olympic Dam expansion proceeding and have expressed the need for Government to support a diversified economy.

In 2015, the Olympic Dam mine's workforce began a staged contraction in company-wide efforts to reduce operating costs.

[49] The deposit was originally discovered by Western Mining Corporation in 1975 near Roxby Downs Sheep Station and production officially commenced in 1988.

[50] The Olympic Dam mine is South Australia's single largest consumer of electricity, and is connected (at 275kV) at end of the grid via Port Augusta,[51] with a reserve 132kV line via Pimba.

[55] The 2016 storm and heatwaves destroyed power lines, disrupted production and caused financial losses,[54][56] and the state started initiatives to increase grid reliability.

In 1995, the Olympic Dam project, including the Roxby Downs township, consumed an average of 14.3 megalitres of water daily.

[64] As mound springs are the only permanent source of water in the arid interior of South Australia a delicate yet intricate ecological balance has been established[65] with prolonged isolation causing the existence of many rare and endemic species.

Emissions exceeding 500 tonnes per annum as of 2013 are (from largest to smallest): particulate matter (10 um), oxides of nitrogen, sulfur dioxide and carbon monoxide.

[67] In 2006, the Government of South Australia established the Olympic Dam Task Force to assist BHP Billiton with their mine expansion plans.

Current and former senior public servants who have also worked on the Olympic Dam project as employees of BHP Billiton or Western Mining Corporation include Richard Yeeles and Kym Winter-Dewhirst.