BHP Billiton's Cannington operation began production in 1997 and is presently the largest tonnage and lowest cost single mine producer of both lead and silver in the world._x000D_
The original design capacity was 1.5 Mtpa and this has progressively increased via a series of debottlenecking projects in both the mining and milling operations. In 2003, 2.39 Mt of ore was mined, whilst 2.31 Mt of ore was milled. In February 2003 Cannington received approval to expand the project to a sustainable capacity of 2.4 Mtpa. This resulted in underground development into the northern zone, upgrades to the concentrator, increased accommodation at site and power station capacity._x000D_
The Cannington project development team implemented a partnership approach to the project. Fraser Osborn Engineering and Outokumpu Technology worked closely together with the Cannington team to meet all of the project constraints._x000D_
FORMAL CITATION:Okely, A and Fargher, D, 2004._x000D_
Cannington growth project - a partnering approach to design and implementation, in Proceedings Metallurgical Plant Design and Operating Strategies 2004, pp 623-636 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).