Mitchell Services has been awarded a contract extension at BHP’s Olympic Dam copper-gold-uranium mine in South Australia, which means it will continue with its underground drilling work until April 2020.

Under the varied terms of the deal, which comes on the back of a sustained period of strong drilling performance, the company will provide up to eight underground rigs and will continue to play “an integral part in BHP’s plans to expand into the high-grade southern area of the mine as part of a broader growth strategy at Olympic Dam”, it said.

Mitchell previously announced a material contract extension and scope increase in relation to its underground drilling contract back on September 5. This highlighted that the company would provide up to seven underground rigs and that the contract would be extended to April 2019.

In its latest results, BHP reported that underground operations continue to progress into the Southern Mine Area of Olympic Dam, with record development kilometres achieved and the mine’s third decline becoming fully operational in the December quarter of 2018.