Mount Keith, Western Australia
Encyclopedia
Mount Keith Mine is an open pit
nickel
mine
in Western Australia
. It is operated by BHP Billiton
. The site's closest landmark is the town of Wiluna
, 85 kilometres (52.8 mi) to the north.
-Wiluna
Greenstone belt
, with nickel sulfide deposits of the dyke
-like or sill
deposit type. The important known nickel deposits are in the ultramafic rocks of the lower cycle, around 2700 Ma old. In 1971, the mine was thought to be able to provide 10% of the world's demand for nickel; in 1992 it was estimated as containing 270 million tons of sulfide
ore, grading 0.6% nickel, enough for about twenty years.
Owned by WMC Resources Limited, it was acquired by BHP in June 2005.
In 2009, BHP reduced the mine's activity, laying off 300 employees.
.
Open-pit mining
Open-pit mining or opencast mining refers to a method of extracting rock or minerals from the earth by their removal from an open pit or borrow....
nickel
Nickel
Nickel is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel belongs to the transition metals and is hard and ductile...
mine
Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...
in Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
. It is operated by BHP Billiton
BHP Billiton
BHP Billiton is a global mining, oil and gas company headquartered in Melbourne, Australia and with a major management office in London, United Kingdom...
. The site's closest landmark is the town of Wiluna
Wiluna, Western Australia
Wiluna is a complex town in the Mid West region of Western Australia. It is situated on the edge of the Western Desert at the gateway to the Canning Stock Route and Gunbarrel Highway. It is the service centre of the local area for the local Aboriginal people, the pastoral industry, mining, and...
, 85 kilometres (52.8 mi) to the north.
Overview
The mine is located on the north end of the 800 kilometres (497.1 mi) long NorsemanNorseman, Western Australia
Norseman is a town located in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia along the Coolgardie-Esperance Highway, east of Perth and above sea level. It is also the starting point of the Eyre Highway, and the last major town in Western Australia before the South Australian border to the...
-Wiluna
Wiluna, Western Australia
Wiluna is a complex town in the Mid West region of Western Australia. It is situated on the edge of the Western Desert at the gateway to the Canning Stock Route and Gunbarrel Highway. It is the service centre of the local area for the local Aboriginal people, the pastoral industry, mining, and...
Greenstone belt
Greenstone belt
Greenstone belts are zones of variably metamorphosed mafic to ultramafic volcanic sequences with associated sedimentary rocks that occur within Archaean and Proterozoic cratons between granite and gneiss bodies....
, with nickel sulfide deposits of the dyke
Dike (geology)
A dike or dyke in geology is a type of sheet intrusion referring to any geologic body that cuts discordantly across* planar wall rock structures, such as bedding or foliation...
-like or sill
Sill (geology)
In geology, a sill is a tabular sheet intrusion that has intruded between older layers of sedimentary rock, beds of volcanic lava or tuff, or even along the direction of foliation in metamorphic rock. The term sill is synonymous with concordant intrusive sheet...
deposit type. The important known nickel deposits are in the ultramafic rocks of the lower cycle, around 2700 Ma old. In 1971, the mine was thought to be able to provide 10% of the world's demand for nickel; in 1992 it was estimated as containing 270 million tons of sulfide
Sulfide
A sulfide is an anion of sulfur in its lowest oxidation state of 2-. Sulfide is also a slightly archaic term for thioethers, a common type of organosulfur compound that are well known for their bad odors.- Properties :...
ore, grading 0.6% nickel, enough for about twenty years.
Owned by WMC Resources Limited, it was acquired by BHP in June 2005.
In 2009, BHP reduced the mine's activity, laying off 300 employees.
Production
Mount Keith is part of BHP's Nickel West operations, which includes, apart from Mount Keith, the Leinster Nickel Mine, the Kambalda Nickel Concentrator, the Kalgoorlie Nickel Smelter and the Kwinana Nickel Refinery. Production figures published by the company at the end of 2008 are for the whole Nickel West Operations and not broken down to individual mines. In the calendar year 2008 Nickel West produced 85,800 tonnes of nickel. At the time, Nickel West also included the Ravensthorpe Nickel MineRavensthorpe Nickel Mine
The Ravensthorpe Nickel Mine is a nickel mine located 33 km east of Ravensthorpe, Western Australia.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...
.