Workers and residents in the west Australian goldfields are reeling, after mining giant BHP this week decided to mothball its nickel west operation. The announcement was no surprise to industry experts -- but the union representing some of the 1600 workers put out of a job, says the option of redeploying them and switching them to fly-in fly-out roles could be problematic.
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00:00In the heart of Kwinana sits a rare opportunity, employment at a nickel refinery less than
00:0850 kilometres from Perth.
00:11But that will soon change.
00:13From October, BHP will suspend operations at refineries in Kwinana and Kalgoorlie and
00:19its mines at Mount Keith and Leinster.
00:22Well, this is nearly 60 years old, so it's not unexpected, but it doesn't make the
00:27outcome for BHP or the workers any easy to swallow.
00:33The move comes amid a drop in nickel prices as Indonesia dominates the global market.
00:38But with projects in critical minerals and manufacturing set to skyrocket in Kwinana,
00:43hope for local workers may not be lost.
00:46I think there will be considerable opportunities for local workers to find employment elsewhere
00:51along the Kwinana industrial area.
00:53Some of the workers have been at this refinery for decades, and while BHP has offered frontline
00:59employees alternative work within the company, for many that would mean drastic and impractical
01:05changes in lifestyle.
01:07That person may now be offered an opportunity to work in another part of the BHP operations,
01:13which means they'll have to shift to a FIFO model of work.
01:16That may not suit them.
01:17I get that.
01:18An option the workers' union says isn't for everyone.
01:21They probably don't want to be one of those statistics, you know, which is a high statistic
01:26about marriages and families that fall apart because of fly-in, fly-out.
01:30That might be why they're working in Kwinana.
01:32BHP says it will review the suspension in 2027.