The announcement mining giant BHP will suspend its WA nickel operations came as no surprise to industry experts. But the union representing some of the 16-hundred frontline workers put out of a job say the option of switching to fly-in fly-out could be problematic.
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00:00In the heart of Kwinana sits a rare opportunity, employment at a nickel refinery less than
00:0950 kilometres from Perth.
00:11But that will soon change.
00:14From October, BHP will suspend operations at refineries in Kwinana and Kalgoorlie and
00:20its 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 outcome
00:29for 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,
00:44hope for local workers may not be lost.
00:47I think there will be considerable opportunities for local workers to find employment elsewhere
00:52along the Kwinana industrial area.
00:54Some of the workers have been at this refinery for decades and while BHP has offered
00:59frontline employees alternative work within the company, for many that would mean drastic
01:04and impractical changes 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.
01:32The closure of BHP's Goldfields facilities is expected to impact dozens of Indigenous
01:37workers and Indigenous-owned businesses.
01:40It would be good to see them redeployed into roles in their communities and that's what
01:45it boils down to.
01:46Otherwise we end up with a drain of people out of our region into other regions and that's
01:53just not sustainable.
01:54BHP says it will review the suspension in 2027.