BHP is pulling the pin on its Nickel West arm until at least 2027 and with it the jobs of about 3300 people in WA, confirming months of speculation about its future. The Big Australian has succumbed to an onslaught of Indonesian supply flooding the nickel market and announced it will place its WA Nickel business into a period of care and maintenance. BHP on Thursday said WA Nickel would be temporarily suspended from October until at least February 2027, when it will then review the decision.
This is on the back of technical innovations enabling Chinese-backed Indonesian miners to transform low-grade nickel ore into a higher-grade product more efficiently than in years prior. BHP takes nickel sulphide ore at its Mt Keith, Cliffs and Leinster mines, which is then processed through two large concentrators and dryers at Mt Keith and Leinster. Nickel West’s concentrator plant in Kambalda also processes ore, but its ore is purchased from third parties.