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Paydirt chairman Bill Repard opens the packed Australian
Nickel Conference

boost nickel consumption although this 240,000 tpa since 2016.
will be countered by lower use as battery In predicting how supply would meet
pack size gets smaller due to increased widening deficits, Durrant said recycling
energy density,” she said. would play a major role by 2040, perhaps
While other non-nickel technologies contributing as much as 20% of new
are being pursued, Durrant said it was nickel units.
expected that nickel-reliant chemistry “Future nickel supply could see invest-
would continue to play a major role in the ment funding redirected towards recy-
EV sector. cling with its inherent qualities around
“There are different battery types but lower environmental footprints,” she said.
a lot of automakers are committed to “We are seeing high rates of investment
the types we currently see. So, over the in new recycling plants across Europe Angela Durrant
next little while substitution won’t play a and the US, as well as Asia.”
big part, but it could do in 10 years from Recycling’s advantages are height- phide or laterite – sit well below global
now,” she said. ened by growing consumer demand for weighted averages.
The EV sector will be of growing impor- clean supply chains. Durrant said sourc- “These positions will become increas-
tance to Australian sulphide miners given ing “clean, green nickel” was increasingly ingly important as global consumers and
Chinese stainless steel’s growing prefer- important for both investors and end-us- investors look to source of the nickel sup-
ence for NPI imported from Indonesia. ers. While Indonesian NPI producers are ply the EV batteries and energy storage
The world’s largest nickel consumer has high up on the carbon emission intensity solutions,” Durrant said.
reduced the import of Class 1 nickel by curve, Australian miners – whether sul-

Nickel West: From zero to hero

HP Nickel West returned to the Aus- meet this demand by being one of the cations in the Goldfields to service our
Btralian Nickel Conference stage a most sustainable producers in the world,” northern operations,” Stone said. “Early
fully-fledged producer of battery ingredi- Stone said. investigations suggest that a 40-50MW
ents. It is doing so by undertaking a major wind farm would reduce emissions by
The company officially opened the decarbonisation exercise. another 30%.”
nickel sulphate facility at Kwinana on Oc- “We have made huge inroads into the The company is also working to reduce
tober 1, just days after announcing it had sustainable production of nickel with diesel usage on its mining operations.
struck a new offtake agreement with a some quite significant power purchase “We’ve also embarked on the EV
Panasonic-Toyota JV. agreements and plans in place to de- journey for our underground operations
The new facility has the potential to carbonise,” Stone said. “In our northern working with Toyota on an EV 4WD and
produce more than 100,000 tpa of nickel operations where our mines and two of purchased an EV Normet charge wagon.
sulphate at 99.99% purity, enough to our concentrators are located, we are These are important steps to reduce die-
make 700,000 batteries for EVs. working with Transalta to build solar sel emissions underground for the safety
The plant represents the largest step farms at Mt Keith [a 27.4MW solar farm] of our people as well as the environment.”
yet in Western Australia’s move towards and Leinster [10.7MW solar farm and The company’s willingness to fund
a downstream battery minerals sector 10.1MW battery]. This is the first large- new large-scale renewables projects re-
– the Tianqi-IGO Ltd lithium hydroxide scale onsite solar farm and battery stor- inforces its outlook of long-life operations
plant at Kwinana is still in commissioning age facility BHP has ever commissioned in WA.
– and points to Nickel West’s own com- at any of its global operations.” The company is looking to expand
mitment to servicing the battery market. In its southern network, the company its Mt Keith concentrator by installing a
More than 85% of Nickel West’s mine has extended and expanded its power 16MW SAG mil and modernising the flo-
production is now sold into the battery purchase agreement with the 100MW tation circuit which was commissioned in
mineral supply chain, transforming the Merredin solar farm, lifting offtake from 1992. On the mining front, the Yakabindie
BHP Ltd offshoot from unwanted burden 20MW to 50MW. Stone said the project pits are now in full production and a cut-
to poster child of the major’s role in the would reduce carbon emissions at the back has been started on the original Mt
energy revolution. Kalgoorlie nickel smelter by 30%. Keith pit, resulting in a 50% increase in
Speaking at the conference, Nickel As well as the existing renewable pow- mining activity.
West general manager northern opera- er agreements, Nickel West is pursuing At Leinster, the company has been
tions, NPI and exploration, Chris Stone new opportunities in both the South- debottlenecking the concentrator circuit,
said the company’s rise to preferred sup- West and Goldfields regions. increasing production to record rates.
plier status with the likes of Tesla, Toyota “Nickel West is actively looking at wind To meet the new capacity, the com-
and Panasonic had as much to do with opportunities in the South-West which pany is focused on extending the Cliffs
performance as product quality. will satisfy remaining electricity require- underground and has hit full production
“Our customers are increasing their ments at our Kalgoorlie nickel smelter (720,000 tpa @ 1.2% nickel) in the Ve-
demand for clean nickel and a clean and Kwinana nickel refinery, and we nus underground.
supply chain and Nickel West is able to have also identified several attractive lo-
– Dominic Piper

aUSTRaLIa’S PaYDIRT NOVeMBeR 2021 Page 27