BHP Billiton stated in the company's annual report released this week that the plant plans to start production in 1H20, but it is still under construction.
The plant is located at the Kwinana nickel refinery and is now ready to go online and produce the first batch of products sometime in the first half of 2021. In the first phase of work, BHP Billiton set a target of 100,000 tons of nickel sulfate per year.
Another reason for up to a year may be cost. Nickel West said that in 2019, it has exceeded its initial package price of $43 million, although the official price tag of the facility was not updated at that time.
BHP Billiton also confirmed in the report that the construction of Nickel West’s three new mines is making progress. The Yakabindie satellite mine was put into production in December 2019; now, it has become the main source of raw materials for the Keith Mountain Concentrator.
The Jinxing Underground Mine transitioned to full production in September 2019. The ore is hoisted to the Leinster concentrator. Leinster B11 is the first massive cave under the Leinster underground mine. Its progress is in line with expectations, and its developed ore has also been hoisted to the Leinster Concentrator.
