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he 2012 edition of the conference lishing itself as a multi-asset miner, the liabilities meant closure of facilities in
Tcame at perhaps the lowest ebb for difference being it has divested all of its Kalgoorlie and Kwinana would be expen-
the domestic nickel sector. The spot price 2012 portfolio. Instead of being linked to sive but with Xstrata taken out by Glen-
had fallen abruptly as post-GFC quantita- stainless steel, the company is tied to the core that year, there were few suitors for
tive easing began to wear off, shedding emerging clean energy thematic based the business unit.
30% over the calendar year. around nickel and lithium demand. Even three years later, when BHP spun
The effects reverberated around the Its main nickel production comes from out unwanted assets into South32 Ltd, it
industry and conference. Xstrata an- Nova – snapped up in 2015 – and For- couldn’t find a home for Nickel West.
nounced it was suspending its Cosmos restania – acquired as part of its takeo- Like IGO, BHP Nickel West has re-
operations in Leinster, costing 150 jobs, ver of Western Areas earlier this year. In vived itself using an EV heart-starter.
while BHP Nickel West let a similar num- place of Tropicana, it has a share in the The company refurbished its Kwinana
ber of employees go. At the Pan Pacific Greenbushes lithium mine in WA. nickel smelter in 2019, eventually adding
meanwhile, less than 250 people were on a nickel sulphate facility which means it
hand to listen to two days of presentations now sells more than 90% of its product
which included only eight companies. into the EV supply chain.
As always, the discussion at Nickel Both BHP Nickel West and IGO will be
2012 surrounded Chinese demand. Sup- on stage at the 2022 Australian Nickel
ply, as it had been for much of the 12 Conference, and they will be joined by
years since WMC sold its smaller WA op- some familiar names.
erations, was fairly consistent with most Mincor has been a constant on the pro-
mines operating effectively, if frugally. gramme throughout the period, despite
The likes of Mincor Resources NL and closing its Kambalda and Widgiemool-
Western Areas had earned a reputation tha operations in 2016, and will return
for adaptable, low-cost deep-level min- this year as a miner once again, having
ing, capable of slowing or increasing launched development at Long (acquired
production and development rates as the Everything changes, everything stays from IGO in 2019) and its Cassini discov-
spot price dictated. the same: David Moore (above) talks ery earlier this year.
While the price had fallen from the all- up Mincor Resources’ prospects Elsewhere, Panoramic Resources Ltd
time high of $US50,000t in 2007, there in Kambalda while Mark Bennett chairman Nick Cernotta will provide an
was general agreement that a rebound (below) describes how the Nova nickel update on the operational ramp-up at the
in stainless steel production would result discovery will be a world-class mine. Savannah mine in the Kimberley follow-
in more demand for WA nickel sulphides. Both projects will feature again at this ing last year’s successful restart.
Apart from Western Areas, the jun- year’s conference Incidentally, former Panoramic boss
ior domestic miners were locked into Peter Harold is now in charge of another
offtake contracts with Nickel West and of the Class of 2012, Poseidon Nickel Ltd,
almost all production headed straight where he is rejuvenating the Black Swan
to the voracious Chinese stainless operations, previously owned by Norilsk
steel sector. Nickel.
However, as that 2007 spike occurred, In another reflection of 2012, Brazilian
the rug was already being pulled from un- nickel will take prominence once again.
der the Australian nickel miners thanks to Where then it was Mirabela Nickel, now
the rise of the nickel pig iron (NPI) sec- it is Centaurus Metals Ltd and its Jaguar
tor. A newly developed process for nickel nickel project. Centaurus managing di-
laterite ore, NPI offered Chinese stainless rector Darren Gordon and shareholders
steel producers a low-cost alternative to watching his presentation will be confi-
the in-demand Class 1 nickel produced dent the company will not go the same
from WA nickel sulphide concentrates. way as Mirabela, which crashed and
The two most glaring omissions from IGO also boasts downstream produc- burned in spectacular fashion towards
that 2012 programme are BHP Nickel tion via its share in the Kwinana lithium the end of the decade.
West and IGO Ltd. At the time, IGO was hydroxide facility and is investigating Elsewhere, there is a global element to
a budding multi-asset miner with a minor- production of nickel sulphate from Nova, the rebirth in nickel exploration with jun-
ity stake in the Tropicana gold mine and Forrestania and the redeveloped Cosmos iors testing projects in Vietnam, Tanzania
the Jaguar base metal operation bolster- operations. and Scandinavia, as well as WA.
ing its cornerstone asset, the Long nickel It is not locked into offtake contracts Some of the faces may be familiar but
mine in Kambalda. with BHP Nickel West or traders, freeing many will not and there is a feel of a new
At that time, the company was strug- it to negotiate agreements with chemical generation of nickel players emerging on
gling under the weight of low commodity companies, battery makers and even car the back of the EV thematic.
prices and high-cost operations – par- manufacturers. Can we expect another decade of
ticularly at Long and Jaguar. Its place on BHP Nickel West’s journey was just change for the sector when 2032 comes
the opening morning was filled by upstart as intriguing. While its Pilbara iron ore around?
explorer Sirius Resources, which was ex- and Queensland coal businesses were
citing the market with its greenfields Nova performing strongly in 2012, the major – Dominic Piper
discovery in WA’s Fraser Range district. couldn’t work out what to do with its ail-
Ten years on and IGO is still estab- ing nickel business. High environmental

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