Roxby Downs & Olympic Dam

Situated 550 kilometres north of Adelaide and 250 kilometres north of Port Augusta, it is a semi isolated community of 4000 people. Its unusual demographics, the high discretionary income of the residents and excellent infrastructure make it an excellent location for businesses who can provide services or goods which are not catered for in the current business mix.

Roxby Downs has the highest standard of infrastructure in roads, buildings and business facilities for a town of 4,500 people. An active and progressive administration and community network support it.

In comparison to other towns and regions the residents of Roxby Downs enjoy a high disposable income.

The township of Roxby Downs was purpose built to accommodate workers of the Olympic Dam mine, owned by BHP Billiton. Now a thriving community of 4500 residents, Roxby Downs is home to a variety of modern, well equipped - educational, health, sporting, leisure, shopping and cultural facilities.

Accommodation in Roxby Downs is first rate and there is a variety of restaurants and cafes.

Olympic Dam Mine

The Olympic Dam Mine is the largest mineral ore body of its kind in the world, with approximately 260km of underground roadway and fully remote underground trains.

The recently constructed Roxby Downs Cultural Precinct is home to the Visitor Information Centre, Booking Office, Interpretive Display, Art Gallery, Auditorium, Theatrette, and Dunes Café.

As well as providing reliable, accurate, up-to-date information on Roxby Downs and the surrounding region, the Visitor Information Centre is also a booking agent for local accommodation and tour operators.

The Interpretive Display is an interesting, informative display aimed at enhancing visitor's knowledge and understanding of Roxby Downs and Olympic Dam.

The Cultural Precinct Auditorium is a first class venue for hosting theatre productions, functions, meetings, conferences and exposés. All functions can be fully catered for.
The Theatrette is a cinema showing the latest releases on the big screen. The Theatrette is also available to hire for presentations, and meetings.

The Roxby Downs Art Gallery provides a unique, quality venue for the display of art work by professional touring exhibitions and local artists.

A relaxing place to enjoy a healthy meal or refreshing drink is The Dunes Café, also located within the Cultural Precinct.

Power and Water

Power is supplied by the Port Augusta power station.

There are very few local government authorities in South Australia that actually provide water, sewerage and electricity supply services. In Roxby Downs, Council provides these as a result of us being legally created as a separate individual Power Authority pursuant to the Roxby Downs (Indenture Ratification Act) 1982.

This service operates as a separate independent business units from our local government operations. Any profits from Roxby power or Roxby Water are currently put towards the provision of new electrical and water infrastructure. However, in the future, they may be able to be used to assist the municipal operations.

As far as practicable, Council follows standards of operation for electricity and water, equivalent to standards set by ETSA and AGL and SA Water.

Ore reserves

Olympic Dam has proved and probable ore reserves of 761 million tonnes at 31 December 2004 at 1.5 per cent copper, 0.6 kg/tonne U3O8 and 0.5 g/tonne gold.

Olympic Dam's copper production is sold to customers in Europe, Australia and Asia under contracts which are negotiated annually with pricing based on the LME cash settlement price.

Olympic Dam has long term contracts for the sale of uranium oxide concentrates to customers in the United Kingdom, France, Sweden, Finland, Belgium, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Canada and the United States.

Gold and silver, also produced at Olympic Dam, are sold to the Perth Mint, Australia.