PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Diversified miner BHP’s nickel arm, Nickel West, has reaffirmed its pathways to increasing production in Western Australia, including the development of new mines and the expansion of existing operations.
Speaking at the Paydirt Nickel conference, BHP Nickel West’s head of integrated operations, Karl Stokes noted that first ore from the Yakabindie project would be delivered to the Mt Keith concentrator in December this year, with the mine making up the primary source of mill feed at Mt Keith from 2021 onwards.
The Western Australian Environmental Protection Authority at the end of last year gave Nickel West clearance to build the nickel sulphide mine near the existing Mt Keith concentrator, to produce some 9.6-million tonnes of nickel ore a year.
The ore will be trucked to the existing Mt Keith for processing, and is expected to extend the life of the Mt Keith nickel operation by 12 years.
Stokes on Tuesday said that Nickel West was also making inroads at both the Venus underground and at the B11 block cave operation near the Leinster smelter, with undercut work at the B11 project expected to start in the second half of 2020, subject to government approvals.
In addition to the work being conducted at the mines, Nickel West is also focusing attention on debottlenecking activities at both the Kwinana refinery and Kalgoorlie smelter, with the miner expected to incrementally invest capital to increase production capacity at the downstream operations.
First production from the nickel sulphate plant at the Kwinana nickel refinery is expected in the first half of 2020.