Western Australia's once-booming nickel industry has collapsed this year with thousands of job losses.
The metal's discovery near Kambalda in the 1960s sparked a modern-day renaissance for the historic mining region built on its 1890s gold rush.Donald, 60, worked extensively in gold mining and spent 13 years at the Kalgoorlie Nickel Smelter, while his 59-year-old brother Tim has documented the region's ups and downs as a historian with the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder.
"It has worked in a boom and bust cycle, and shutting down nickel means we're at the mercy of gold prices."Nickel's traditional use has been in stainless steel, with the Vietnam War playing a significant part in driving demand for the metal. "It is a splendid thing that the great mining skills built up over generations in this area should be preserved and used in the area itself," Prime Minister Gough Whitlam remarked at its official opening on April 7, 1973.Industry's future in doubt