Country Australia Website First Quantum website Opened 2008 | State Western Australia Products NickelCobalt | |
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Active 2008-2009, 2011-present day | ||
Ravensthorpe Nickel Operations is a nickel mine and hydrometallurgical processing plant located 550 km south east of Perth, in the Ravensthorpe district of Western Australia.
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Following a difficult commissioning phase under BHP Billiton, the operation is now in stable, commercial production under the ownership of First Quantum Minerals’ subsidiary FQM Australia Nickel Pty Ltd.
Ravensthorpe cost BHP Billiton US$2.2 billion to build but led to $3.6 billion in write-downs when it was shut down in January 2009, after less than a year of operation. The closure caused considerable bad publicity for the owner, prompting the operation to be placed on the market. The mine was sold in December 2009 to First Quantum Minerals for US$340 million.
First Quantum Minerals successfully returned the operation to commercial production in December 2011, after 18 months of modifications and re-commissioning. The operation produced 32,884 tonnes of nickel in its first full year of operation in 2012.
History
Mining in Ravensthorpe considerably predates the current nickel mine, with gold discoveries dating back to 1898. The town experienced a down turn after the First World War but mining for copper continued up until the 1970s. A railway line connected Ravensthorpe with the port of Hopetoun from 1901 to 1925, when the line was closed.
BHP Billiton commenced a feasibility study in 2002 into opening a nickel and cobalt mine and processing plant at the cost of A$1.4 billion 35 km East of the Ravensthorpe.
The project was approved in 2004 and construction commenced shortly afterward. The plant known as the Ravensthorpe Nickel Project was commissioned in late 2007 with first production occurring in October and the first 5,000 tonnes being produced by December 2007. The plant was officially opened in 2008, after massive cost blow outs and delays. Production was expected to total 50,000 tonnes of nickel per year.
In January 2009, BHP Billiton announced that it was suspending production at Ravensthorpe Nickel Operations indefinitely, due to the reduction in world nickel prices caused by the global economic crisis. The decision cut 1,800 jobs and was expected to have a major impact on the local economy. Nickel prices, having reached a high of US$50,000 per tonne in May 2007, had fallen to under $11,000 per tonne by the time of the mines closure. The closure had a devastating effect on the local communities of Ravensthorpe and Hopetoun and led to BHP Billiton being heavily criticised for its handling of the closure.
On 9 December 2009, BHP Billiton sold the operation to Vancouver-based First Quantum Minerals for US$340 million. First Quantum was one of three bidders for the mine and actually produced the lowest offer. First Quantum won the bid despite offers from Minara Resources at US$360 million and Poseidon Nickel at US$400 million being higher than theirs. BHP Billiton said that the lower price was accepted due to fewer conditions being imposed by the tenderer. The sale of the mine was subject to approval of the Australian Foreign Investment Review Board and the Western Australian government. First Quantum announced the completion of the acquisition on 10 February 2010.
Modifications and recommissioning
First Quantum Minerals spent eighteen months implementing extensive modifications to improve the mineral processing at the front end of the plant, through the construction of two new ore crushers, new product storage ponds and a new dewatering facility. Recommissioning began in the second quarter of 2011, with first nickel produced in October 2011. Problems BHP faced in the crushing, beneficiation and rejects plants have been successfully resolved.
Production
Commercial production by First Quantum Minerals was achieved on 28 December 2011. In 2012, the operation produced 32,884 tonnes of nickel. BHP Billiton, by comparison, produced 14,000 tonnes of nickel from the operation in the nine months the plant operated from its opening in May 2009 before it was mothballed.
First Quantum expects an annual production of 39,000 tonnes of nickel for the first five years of production and an average of 28,000 tonnes per year for the mine's projected lifetime of 32 years.
Atmospheric leach tank 9 collapse
On the 14th December, 2014 a structural failure caused by corrosion of tank nine's wall lead to the loss of containment of it's hot acidic contents. Nearly two million litres of the acidic slurry exited the tank and displaced several transformers and inundated electrical substations and steam turbine generators. Operations at the plant were suspended by the West Australian department of Mines an Petroleum. Operations were restarted in February the following year, after a large section of the workforce were indefinetly stood down. The plant operator pleaded guilty to failing to supply a safe working environment and received a token fine of A$40,000.