BHP has announced that the B11 block cave, at its Nickel West operations in Leinster, is now fully operational, following the firing of the last drawbell last month.
The block cave is now one of Nickel West’s most innovative operations and will be a sustaining producer of nickel at Leinster for approximately the next seven years.
BHP Northern Operations General Manager Mike Moscarda said the project would have a huge impact on production at Leinster.
“This is a first for BHP and was a huge commitment for the business to take on,” Mike said. “Now that it’s complete, it will contribute up to 50% of the ore in production at Leinster.”
Block caving is an innovative mining method that allows for safe, low cost continued production, and reduces the impact of seismic activity in the workplaces.
It removes people from the most hazardous areas of the mine while remotely targeting the ore above. BHP Manager Mining Leinster Brendon Shadlow said the block cave project began as a way to make mining more sustainable at B11, an area known for seismic activity.
“The mine had to close following some major seismic activity in 2013,” Brendon explained.
“With the new block cave, we can safely and efficiently continue mining even in the event of seismic activity.” The block cave will now be established as a technical centre and the learnings from this project will help shape the future of mining techniques at Nickel West and beyond.
“None of this would have been possible without the many highly capable and committed team members who have worked over many years to help deliver the result we have today,” BHP Head of Planning and Technical Chris Stone added.
“Thank you to everyone who has helped bring this project to fruition. We are so grateful to the project team, the Leinster crew, and all of the contractors who have worked so diligently throughout the life of the project.”
The B11 block cave is planned to recover over 80 000 t of nickel.