ASIATODAY.ID, JAKARTA – Australian mining company BHP announced that it will close its nickel mines in Western Australia for at least three years. The closure of this mine was decided due to excess supply in the global nickel market.
BHP said it would begin suspending operations at its Kwinana nickel refinery in Perth, its Kalgoorlie smelter and its main mines in Mt Keith and Leinster from next October.
It said the decision would be reviewed in February 2027 and would continue to invest around US$450 million per year to support the potential restart of the economy.
In a statement, Western Australian Premier Roger Cook said the move would impact thousands of workers.
“My government will do whatever it takes to support workers and regional communities through this difficult time,” he said, quoted by ABC News, Friday, July 12, 2024.
The affected mines include BHP’s West Nickel operations and the West Musgraves project in the Goldfields. The mining company said its projections show nickel prices in the next five years will fall sharply, giving way to strong growth in cheap nickel produced in other countries.
BHP’s president of nickel assets in Western Australia, Jessica Farrell, said 1,600 frontline workers across operations would be directly impacted by BHP’s mine closures.
“Anyone on our front line who wants a job at BHP, already has a job at BHP,” he said, although no details were given about the proposed redeployment.
“We continue to work with all our other employees and support the business regarding our options for redeployment. He said the decision was “difficult but necessary”. “We obviously took this decision on the basis that we saw oversupply in the nickel market,” explained Farrell.
“We see oversupply continuing until the end of this decade, but our decision will be reviewed in 2027,”.
BHP said it would establish a community fund of AUD 20 million to support towns affected by mine closures, although it is unclear what the fund will be spent on at this stage. (ATN)
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