The closure of mining giant BHP’s nickel operations in Western Australia will have ripple effects far and wide and could signal “the end of the Australian nickel industry”, according to a prominent mining analyst.
BHP announced yesterday it would begin suspending operations at the Kwinana nickel refinery in Perth, the Kalgoorlie smelter and its major mines at Mt Keith and Leinster in the state’s Goldfields from October. BHP said market conditions were to blame for its decision to either redeploy or offer redundancies to 1,600 of its frontline workers, while hundreds more contractors would be impacted.
It follows the closure of First Quantum Mineral’s Ravensthorpe nickel operation earlier this year. Perth-based mining analyst Tim Treadgold said he could not see the nickel industry recovering from such a big player bailing out.
“It has a degree of inevitability to it … and it’s just such a shame for all those people are going to lose their jobs.”
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