Thiess wins $160m nickel contract

BHP Billiton has reopened its Rocky’s Reward nickel mine as a contract mining operation, despite several other nickel miners scaling back their projects in response to the sharp slump in the commodity’s price. 

The Rocky’s Reward open-cut mine has been opened and closed several times since operations commenced in 1988.

It was closed in 2009, forcing BGC Contacting and other contractors to lay off more than 200 staff, but reopened last January when BHP needed to fill a supply gap caused by the closure of its Perseverance underground mine.

It was closed again in the middle of last year, before recently appointed Nickel West asset president, Eduard Haegel, led a review of the group’s operations.

That review has resulted in CIMIC Group’s contract mining arm, Thiess, being awarded a $160 million, 30-month contract to undertake operations at Rocky’s Reward.

Rocky’s Reward is an open‐pit operation within Nickel West’s Leinster mine complex, 400 kilometres north of Kalgoorlie.

Thiess will provide turnkey mining services including mine planning, explosives, drill and blast services, overburden and ore mining, and overarching technical support.

Cimic executive chairman Marcelino Fernandez Verdes said the company was continuing to tender for more mining work, and expected further contracts to be awarded to the group in the near future.

“Following on from Thiess’s recent entry into Chile’s copper market, the Rocky’s Reward nickel project provides further diversification by both commodity and geography,” he said.

Thiess managing director Michael Wright said the Rocky’s Reward contract, which marked the company's re‐entry into the Goldfields region, highlighted Thiess's innovative, technical approach to mining, and its commitment to aligning with client objectives.

“It builds on the partnership we first established with BHP Billiton Nickel West at the nearby Mt Keith operations in 2003,” he said.

Nickel West is a fully integrated business comprising the Mt Keith, Cliffs and Leinster mines, the Kalgoorlie smelter, the Kambalda concentrator and the Kwinana refinery.