There has been speculation the underground copper/gold and uranium mine in South Australia could lose 80 per cent of production because of the breakdown of one of its two haulage systems.
"Olympic Dam's mine planning team is currently examining what impact the temporary closure of the Clark Shaft will have on mine production, planning schedules and budget,'' BHP said today.
"This work is expected to be completed in the course of the next two weeks and will run in parallel with both the Government and company investigations into the incident,'' it said.
Melbourne Olympic Dam is a major producer of copper, uranium and other metals and there has been speculation a reduction in production capacity could force up spot prices.
Nobody was injured when the automatic haulage system, which carries ore from underground to surface processing facilities, collapsed at (11.00pm AEDT) on Tuesday.
A secondary haulage system continues to operate at the mine.
BHP Billiton said it was working with inspectors from SafeWork SA and had assembled its own investigation team to examine the incident.
A proposed expansion at the mine, estimated by analysts to cost about $15.9 billion, would see Olympic Dam become the world's largest producer of uranium, and one of the largest producers of copper.
The works are yet to be given the final go-ahead by BHP Billiton and environmental concerns have been raised over the discharge of brine from the revamped plant.
At 2.06pm shares in BHP Billiton were trading up 29 cents, or 0.77 per cent at $38.10.
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