Kambalda Nickel Operations

Kambalda Nickel Operations
Satellite image of Lake Lefroy, with the Kambalda Nickel Operations on the north-western shore
Location
Kambalda Nickel Mine is located in Western Australia
Kambalda Nickel Mine
Kambalda Nickel Mine
Location in Western Australia
LocationKambalda East
StateWestern Australia
CountryAustralia
Coordinates31°11′08″S 121°40′23″E / 31.1856°S 121.6731°E / -31.1856; 121.6731
Production
ProductsNickel
Production1,404 tonnes
Financial year2021–22
History
Opened1967
Active1967–2003 (WMC)
2002–2016 (Mincor)
2022–present (Mincor, Wyloo Metals)
Owner
CompanyBHP (Concentrator)
Wyloo Metals (Mining leases)
WebsiteBHP website
Wyloo Metals website
Year of acquisition2023 (Wyloo Metals)
June 2005 (BHP)
Map

Kambalda Nickel Operations or Kambalda Nickel Mine is a surface and underground nickel mine as well as a nickel concentrator, near Kambalda East, Western Australia. The deposit was discovered in 1954 and the mine opened in 1967, operated by WMC Resources which was taken over by BHP in 2005. Prior to this, between 2001 and 2003, WMC ceased mining operations at Kambalda and divested itself of the mining assets.

BHP, through its Nickel West operations, continues to operate the Kambalda Nickel Concentrator, with the facility having been shut down from 2018 to 2022. The mining leases were predominantly with Mincor Resources which had intermittently mined the former WMC workings. In 2023, Wyloo Metals acquired Mincor Resources.

Kambalda was the first nickel mine in Western Australia. The mine also caused an international dispute between Singapore and Australia over nuclear waste disposal when a caesium-137 density gauge lost at Kambalda contaminated a furnace in Singapore in 1978.[1][2]

  1. ^ Parbo, Arvi (April 1999). Sir Arvi Parbo Recollections: Book 2 - Vol 2: Nickel (Report). WMC Resources. pp. 129–131. Retrieved 30 July 2023 – via National Library of Australia. On 14 November 1978 it was found that a gauge measuring pulp density in the Kambalda Mill [...] could not be located. The gauge [...] contained a small amount of radioactive caesium 137.
  2. ^ "Radiation forces furnace closure". The Canberra Times. Vol. 53, no. 15789. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 14 December 1978. p. 12. Retrieved 30 July 2023 – via National Library of Australia. The Western Mining Corporation has increased security at its Dambalda mine to prevent any more radioactive devices being lost.