Cobalt Mines - Cobalt Mines in Australia, Ravensthorpe Nickel Mine, Murrin Murrin Joint Venture, Browns Polymetallic Ore Deposit (Paperback)

Chapters: Cobalt Mines in Australia, Ravensthorpe Nickel Mine, Murrin Murrin Joint Venture, Browns Polymetallic Ore Deposit. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 20. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: The Ravensthorpe Nickel Mine is a nickel mine located at 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. 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. 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 town. 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 the Ravensthorpe nickel mine indefinitely, due the reduction in world nickel prices caused by the global economic crisis. The decision cut 1,800 jobs and was expected to have a ...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=25378491