Ravensthorpe Nickel Mine

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.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.HistoryMining 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.