Two years after BHP slashed jobs at its Olympic Dam operation because of the worldwide downturn, the mining giant is adding another 120 new jobs at the South Australia location.

The announce is on top of the 350 jobs already announced at the copper and uranium mine underground, near Roxby Downs.  The recruitment process began today (Friday, 10 November) at at the JOBEX expo in Adelaide.

"It is a really exciting time to be part of the industry, and part of Olympic Dam, and we want people from truck drivers to technology professionals to engineers, and everything in between to join us," said BHP's Olympic Dam asset president Jacqui McGill.  The company plans to spent AU$600 Million at the site.

"We have sustainable growth plans and we are investing to make the Olympic Dam operation modern and technologically advanced," said Ms. McGill.

Officials are hopeful South Australia's mining industry is enjoying a positive turnaround.

"This is a sign that we're heading into a very strong resources growth period," said South Australian Chamber of Mines and Energy (SACOME) chief executive Rebecca Knol, as quoted by the ABC.  "We've seen announcements by BHP, but also Oz Minerals, Iluka, Arrium," she continued, "So there's been a significant number (of jobs created) for regional South Australia in the past couple of months."