Works restart at Forrestania Nickel Operation in Western Australia

Nickel mining firm Western Areas has resumed normal operations at its Forrestania project in Western Australia, following a bush fire incident last week.

The Forrestania Nickel Operation is located 400km east of Perth.

Western Areas noted that the bush fire incident, which likely took place due to a lightning strike, led to the temporary suspension of Forrestania operations last week.

The company added that the mains power was interrupted during the weekend as a result of damage to three power lines. The power was restored by the weekend and mining operations were restarted on site using back-up power generation.

Operations at the Cosmic Boy mill were suspended until the power transmission was restored.

The incident, however, does not have any impact on the company’s nickel production or cost guidance for the 2020 financial year.

At the time of the incident, Western Areas said: “No mining or infrastructure assets have sustained damage and normal operations are expected to resume imminently.”

Forrestania Nickel Operation (FNO) Response Team and various firefighting teams have assisted towards the safe resumption of operation at Forrestania.

Constructed and designed by GR Engineering Services, the Cosmic Bay concentrator uses conventional flotation technology to process ore into nickel concentrate with an average grade of 14% nickel.

Flying Fox is the first mine to be developed at the Forrestania project, which contains some of the highest grade nickel in the world.

Western Areas opened the Forrestania Nickel Concentrate Plant in March 2009. The nickel concentrator at Cosmic Boy treats high-grade nickel ore from Flying Fox.