BHP Billiton is quietly moving to expand its massive SA mineral...

BHP Billiton is quietly moving to expand its massive SA mineral deposits by targeting new ore bodies.www.adelaidenow.com.au/business.
this is in the adelaide news paper today 30 jan. I like the bit down the bottom that reads......
Bolstering the rumours is BHP's recent deal to buy a majority stake in five exploration tenements south of Olympic Dam from Archer Exploration, for $3 million and up to a maximum spend of $50 million.

Rio Tinto locked in the tenement immediately north of Olympic Dam (EL4322) in October, paying Tasman Resources an initial $10 million with a maximum total spend of $92 million.

Other companies will not confirm or deny talks with BHP - to do so would breach continuous disclosure rules - but the dots are there to be joined.

The Stuart Shelf, as the area which hosts the Olympic Dam ore body is known, is expected to yield more Olympic Dam-style deposits.

The Prominent Hill and Carrapateena copper and gold deposits, which lie respectively north west and south east of Olympic Dam, are examples of what companies hope to find.

Both were discovered only in the past decade 11 years, following the discovery of Olympic Dam back in 1975.

The deep cover in the region, which hides deposits often 400m or more under the surface, has been a hindrance to exploration.

But the area has long been considered, and marketed as, "elephant country".

Companies that hold exploration rights over tenements in the area include Core Exploration, Straits Exploration, Minotaur Exploration, UXA Resources and Monax Mining.