84-561: Leinster Nickel Mine is a surface and underground nickel mine , 5 km north of Leinster, Western Australia . The deposit was discovered in 1971 and the mine opened in 1978, operated by the Agnew Mining Company. It was purchased by WMC Resources in 1988 which, in turn, was taken over by BHP in 2005. The mine has suffered a number of fatalities throughout its operation, most notably on 27 April 1977, when five employees were killed in one incident. The nickel deposit at Leinster
168-484: A matte for further refining. Hydrometallurgical techniques are also used. Most sulfide deposits have traditionally been processed by concentration through a froth flotation process followed by pyrometallurgical extraction. The nickel matte is further processed with the Sherritt-Gordon process . First, copper is removed by adding hydrogen sulfide , leaving a concentrate of cobalt and nickel. Then, solvent extraction
252-455: A waterside clash between police and workers on Bloody Sunday, 4 May 1919, lumper Tom Edwards was struck on the head with a police baton. He died three days later, leaving a wife and three children. A memorial fountain by Pietro Porcelli was erected in Edwards' memory that year, and was moved to Fremantle's Kings Square in 1968. The Fremantle Passenger Terminal was constructed in time for
336-558: A ceremony in which the Governor's wife, Lady Robinson, tilted the first truck load of rubble for the North Mole. Blasting and dredging the rocky bar created a channel, dredging deepened the river basin, and two moles were built to protect the harbour entrance. Land was reclaimed so quays and warehouses could be built. The inner harbour was opened on 4 May 1897 when the steamer Sultan drawing just one foot of water with Lady Forrest at
420-399: A compound, nickel has a number of niche chemical manufacturing uses, such as a catalyst for hydrogenation , cathodes for rechargeable batteries, pigments and metal surface treatments. Nickel is an essential nutrient for some microorganisms and plants that have enzymes with nickel as an active site . Nickel is a silvery-white metal with a slight golden tinge that takes a high polish. It
504-727: A day. It is located adjacent to the city of Fremantle , in the Perth metropolitan region . Fremantle Harbour consists of the Inner Harbour, which is situated on the mouth of the Swan River ; the Outer Harbour , which is 20 km (12 mi) south at Kwinana in Cockburn Sound and handles bulk cargo ports, grain, petroleum, liquefied petroleum gas , alumina, mineral sands, fertilisers, sulphur and other bulk commodities; and Gage Roads , which
588-568: A deep water channel north of Gage Roads, and some seven named channels south. Cockburn Sound is an inlet that extends from the south of the mouth of the Swan River for about 25 km to Cape Peron near Rockingham . The total area of the sound is about 100 km . It is bounded on the east by the mainland suburbs of Cockburn and Kwinana , on the west by Garden Island and Carnac Island , and includes several rocky outcrops and reefs. The Fremantle Outer Harbour consist of, from north to south,
672-531: A port in the river mouth as he believed it would continually silt up due to lateral sand drift. In 1887 the Fremantle Chamber of Commerce pushed hard for the southern scheme to be chosen, but the Colony could not raise the estimated cost of £500,000. By 1891 Forrest was examining another proposal: an offshore facility at Owen Anchorage south of Fremantle. But by then Charles Yelverton O'Connor had been appointed
756-702: A public controversy regarding the problems of people with nickel allergy . An estimated 3.6 million tonnes (t) of nickel per year are mined worldwide; Indonesia (1,800,000 t), the Philippines (400,000 t), Russia (200,000 t), New Caledonia ( France ) (230,000 t), Canada (180,000 t) and Australia (160,000 t) are the largest producers as of 2023. The largest nickel deposits in non-Russian Europe are in Finland and Greece . Identified land-based sources averaging at least 1% nickel contain at least 130 million tonnes of nickel. About 60%
840-497: Is Ni with 28 protons and 50 neutrons. Both are therefore unusually stable for nuclei with so large a proton–neutron imbalance . Nickel-63 is a contaminant found in the support structure of nuclear reactors. It is produced through neutron capture by nickel-62. Small amounts have also been found near nuclear weapon test sites in the South Pacific. Nickel ores are classified as oxides or sulfides. Oxides include laterite , where
924-411: Is $ 0.045 (90% of the face value). In the 21st century, the high price of nickel has led to some replacement of the metal in coins around the world. Coins still made with nickel alloys include one- and two- euro coins , 5¢, 10¢, 25¢, 50¢, and $ 1 U.S. coins , and 20p, 50p, £1, and £2 UK coins . From 2012 on the nickel-alloy used for 5p and 10p UK coins was replaced with nickel-plated steel. This ignited
SECTION 10
#17328977932011008-427: Is a chemical element ; it has symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal . Pure nickel is chemically reactive, but large pieces are slow to react with air under standard conditions because a passivation layer of nickel oxide forms on the surface that prevents further corrosion. Even so, pure native nickel
1092-417: Is a 3d 4s energy level, specifically the 3d ( F) 4s F, J = 4 level. However, each of these two configurations splits into several energy levels due to fine structure , and the two sets of energy levels overlap. The average energy of states with [Ar] 3d 4s is actually lower than the average energy of states with [Ar] 3d 4s . Therefore, the research literature on atomic calculations quotes
1176-714: Is a new nickel mine in Michigan's Upper Peninsula . Construction was completed in 2013, and operations began in the third quarter of 2014. In the first full year of operation, the Eagle Mine produced 18,000 t. Nickel is obtained through extractive metallurgy : it is extracted from ore by conventional roasting and reduction processes that yield metal of greater than 75% purity. In many stainless steel applications, 75% pure nickel can be used without further purification, depending on impurities. Traditionally, most sulfide ores are processed using pyrometallurgical techniques to produce
1260-497: Is a volatile, highly toxic liquid at room temperature. On heating, the complex decomposes back to nickel and carbon monoxide: This behavior is exploited in the Mond process for purifying nickel, as described above. The related nickel(0) complex bis(cyclooctadiene)nickel(0) is a useful catalyst in organonickel chemistry because the cyclooctadiene (or cod ) ligands are easily displaced. Nickel(I) complexes are uncommon, but one example
1344-474: Is also formed in nickel distillation as a by-product, but it decomposes to tetracobalt dodecacarbonyl at the reaction temperature to give a non-volatile solid. Port of Fremantle Fremantle Harbour is Western Australia 's largest and busiest general cargo port and an important historical site. The inner harbour handles a large volume of sea containers, vehicle imports and livestock exports , cruise shipping and naval visits, and operates 24 hours
1428-524: Is also sourced from the Cliffs mine, which opened in 2008 and is located south of the Mount Keith mine, supplying ore to both. During the development of the mine, on 27 April 1977, five employees died at the mine's Perseverance shaft after falling 35 metres in an ore bucket. In 1981, an employee was killed in an underground cave-in. On 11 December 1985, two men died of asphyxiation in the underground operation of
1512-667: Is currently being set in place by the International Seabed Authority to ensure that these nodules are collected in an environmentally conscientious manner while adhering to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals . The one place in the United States where nickel has been profitably mined is Riddle, Oregon , with several square miles of nickel-bearing garnierite surface deposits. The mine closed in 1987. The Eagle mine project
1596-597: Is found in Earth's crust only in tiny amounts, usually in ultramafic rocks , and in the interiors of larger nickel–iron meteorites that were not exposed to oxygen when outside Earth's atmosphere. Meteoric nickel is found in combination with iron , a reflection of the origin of those elements as major end products of supernova nucleosynthesis . An iron–nickel mixture is thought to compose Earth's outer and inner cores . Use of nickel (as natural meteoric nickel–iron alloy) has been traced as far back as 3500 BCE. Nickel
1680-470: Is greater than both Fe and Fe , more abundant nuclides often incorrectly cited as having the highest binding energy. Though this would seem to predict nickel as the most abundant heavy element in the universe, the high rate of photodisintegration of nickel in stellar interiors causes iron to be by far the most abundant. Nickel-60 is the daughter product of the extinct radionuclide Fe (half-life 2.6 million years). Due to
1764-558: Is in laterites and 40% is in sulfide deposits. Also, extensive nickel sources are found in the depths of the Pacific Ocean , especially in an area called the Clarion Clipperton Zone in the form of polymetallic nodules peppering the seafloor at 3.5–6 km below sea level . These nodules are composed of numerous rare-earth metals and are estimated to be 1.7% nickel. With advances in science and engineering , regulation
SECTION 20
#17328977932011848-455: Is now Syria have been found to contain as much as 2% nickel. Some ancient Chinese manuscripts suggest that "white copper" ( cupronickel , known as baitong ) was used there in 1700–1400 BCE. This Paktong white copper was exported to Britain as early as the 17th century, but the nickel content of this alloy was not discovered until 1822. Coins of nickel-copper alloy were minted by Bactrian kings Agathocles , Euthydemus II , and Pantaleon in
1932-434: Is now known as the mineral nickeline (formerly niccolite ), a nickel arsenide . In 1751, Baron Axel Fredrik Cronstedt tried to extract copper from kupfernickel at a cobalt mine in the village of Los, Sweden , and instead produced a white metal that he named nickel after the spirit that had given its name to the mineral. In modern German, Kupfernickel or Kupfer-Nickel designates the alloy cupronickel . Originally,
2016-412: Is one of only four elements that are ferromagnetic at or near room temperature; the others are iron, cobalt and gadolinium . Its Curie temperature is 355 °C (671 °F), meaning that bulk nickel is non-magnetic above this temperature. The unit cell of nickel is a face-centered cube ; it has lattice parameter of 0.352 nm, giving an atomic radius of 0.124 nm. This crystal structure
2100-469: Is produced by the silicon burning process and later set free in large amounts in type Ia supernovae . The shape of the light curve of these supernovae at intermediate to late-times corresponds to the decay via electron capture of Ni to cobalt -56 and ultimately to iron-56. Nickel-59 is a long-lived cosmogenic radionuclide ; half-life 76,000 years. Ni has found many applications in isotope geology . Ni has been used to date
2184-456: Is scheduled to be reviewed in February 2027 but BHP would continue to spend $ 450 million annually on its nickel operations to facilitate a potential restart. The decision was estimated to affect 1,600 workers and the mines and smelters but BHP committed to offer all employees affected a redeployment or redundancy. Leinster is part of BHP's Nickel West operations, which includes, apart from Leinster,
2268-569: Is stable to pressures of at least 70 GPa. Nickel is hard, malleable and ductile , and has a relatively high electrical and thermal conductivity for transition metals. The high compressive strength of 34 GPa, predicted for ideal crystals, is never obtained in the real bulk material due to formation and movement of dislocations . However, it has been reached in Ni nanoparticles . Nickel has two atomic electron configurations , [Ar] 3d 4s and [Ar] 3d 4s , which are very close in energy; [Ar] denotes
2352-545: Is the anchorage between Rottnest Island and the mainland. The Inner Harbour includes northern and southern wharves named North Quay and Victoria Quay respectively. All of this area is managed by the Fremantle Port Authority , a government trading enterprise, under the registered business name Fremantle Ports. Fremantle 's port role began immediately after the Swan River Colony was founded in 1829, but
2436-446: Is the tetrahedral complex NiBr(PPh 3 ) 3 . Many nickel(I) complexes have Ni–Ni bonding, such as the dark red diamagnetic K 4 [Ni 2 (CN) 6 ] prepared by reduction of K 2 [Ni 2 (CN) 6 ] with sodium amalgam . This compound is oxidized in water, liberating H 2 . It is thought that the nickel(I) oxidation state is important to nickel-containing enzymes, such as [NiFe]-hydrogenase , which catalyzes
2520-556: Is then once more transported by rail, now to the Kwinana Nickel Refinery. At Kwinana, it is converted to nickel metal at a grade of 99.8 percent. This product is then shipped via the Port of Fremantle . Production figures published by the company for the whole Nickel West Operations and not broken down to individual mines. In 2020–21, Nickel West produced 89,000 tonnes of nickel, an eleven percent increase of production in comparison to
2604-475: Is used as the cathode in many rechargeable batteries , including nickel–cadmium , nickel–iron , nickel–hydrogen , and nickel–metal hydride , and used by certain manufacturers in Li-ion batteries . Ni(IV) remains a rare oxidation state and very few compounds are known. Ni(IV) occurs in the mixed oxide BaNiO 3 . Unintentional use of nickel can be traced back as far as 3500 BCE. Bronzes from what
Leinster Nickel Mine - Misplaced Pages Continue
2688-455: Is used chiefly in alloys and corrosion-resistant plating. About 68% of world production is used in stainless steel . A further 10% is used for nickel-based and copper-based alloys, 9% for plating, 7% for alloy steels, 3% in foundries, and 4% in other applications such as in rechargeable batteries, including those in electric vehicles (EVs). Nickel is widely used in coins , though nickel-plated objects sometimes provoke nickel allergy . As
2772-412: Is used to separate the cobalt and nickel, with the final nickel content greater than 86%. A second common refining process is leaching the metal matte into a nickel salt solution, followed by electrowinning the nickel from solution by plating it onto a cathode as electrolytic nickel. The purest metal is obtained from nickel oxide by the Mond process , which gives a purity of over 99.99%. The process
2856-460: The 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games . North Quay is the portion of Fremantle Harbour on the northern banks of the Swan River, built in the late 1890s this area is now primarily used for container shipping. On the western edges is Rous Head a smaller harbour used for vessel maintenance which also includes one of several Rottnest Island ferry terminals. Gage Roads serve as a shipping lane and anchorage for sea traffic heading towards
2940-833: The Mount Keith Mine , the Kambalda Nickel Concentrator , the Kalgoorlie Nickel Smelter and the Kwinana Nickel Refinery . BHP, through its Nickel West operations, mines Nickel sulphide in open-cut and underground operations northern part of the Goldfields region of Western Australia. Nickel concentrate is then dried and transported by rail to the Kalgoorlie Nickel Smelter. The resulting product, containing approximately 68 percent nickel,
3024-467: The arsenide niccolite . Identified land-based resources throughout the world averaging 1% nickel or greater comprise at least 130 million tons of nickel (about the double of known reserves). About 60% is in laterites and 40% in sulfide deposits. On geophysical evidence, most of the nickel on Earth is believed to be in Earth's outer and inner cores . Kamacite and taenite are naturally occurring alloys of iron and nickel. For kamacite,
3108-484: The metal aquo complex [Ni(H 2 O) 6 ] . The four halides form nickel compounds, which are solids with molecules with octahedral Ni centres. Nickel(II) chloride is most common, and its behavior is illustrative of the other halides. Nickel(II) chloride is made by dissolving nickel or its oxide in hydrochloric acid . It is usually found as the green hexahydrate, whose formula is usually written NiCl 2 ·6H 2 O . When dissolved in water, this salt forms
3192-479: The metal aquo complex [Ni(H 2 O) 6 ] . Dehydration of NiCl 2 ·6H 2 O gives yellow anhydrous NiCl 2 . Some tetracoordinate nickel(II) complexes, e.g. bis(triphenylphosphine)nickel chloride , exist both in tetrahedral and square planar geometries. The tetrahedral complexes are paramagnetic ; the square planar complexes are diamagnetic . In having properties of magnetic equilibrium and formation of octahedral complexes, they contrast with
3276-527: The 1890s from the southern point of the Swan River mouth is a breakwater to ensure a safe anchorage for vessels in the Inner Harbour. A light house was added in 1903, initially shining white it conflicted with the Woodman point light house, leading to the South Mole light to change to a green beacon. Built in the 1890s the North Mole was extended almost immediately after completion and on a number of occasions since,
3360-531: The 2nd century BCE, possibly out of the Chinese cupronickel. In medieval Germany, a metallic yellow mineral was found in the Ore Mountains that resembled copper ore. But when miners were unable to get any copper from it, they blamed a mischievous sprite of German mythology, Nickel (similar to Old Nick ), for besetting the copper. They called this ore Kupfernickel from German Kupfer 'copper'. This ore
3444-836: The Alcoa Jetty, the Kwinana Bulk Terminal, the BP Oil Refinery Jetty, the Kwinana Bulk Jetty and the CBH Grain Jetty . Of these, the Kwinana Bulk Terminal and the Kwinana Bulk Jetty are operated by Fremantle Ports and serve for the import and export of bulk cargoes and liquids, among them iron ore, coal, cement clink, gypsum, liquefied natural gas , petroleum and fertiliser. The other three facilities are privately operated. The Outer Harbour deepwater bulk facilities in at Kwinana were first developed in 1955, to service
Leinster Nickel Mine - Misplaced Pages Continue
3528-519: The Colony's Engineer-in-Chief, and decided the best option was an inner harbour built in the mouth of the Swan River. The discovery of gold in Western Australia meant a working port was urgently needed, Parliament finally accepted O'Connor's plan after much political haggling, the capital was raised in London and preliminary work commenced late in 1892. The first stage of the harbour works began with
3612-502: The Emu mine, to Leinster Gold Operations, now the Agnew Gold Mine . WMC upgraded the concentrator to a capacity of one million tonnes within its first year of operations, to be doubled in the following two years. At the time of the closure in 1986, the nickel price had fallen to U$ 1.70 per pound while, on reopening it in 1989, prices had recovered to U$ 8.30 per pound. In 2005, WMC Resources
3696-533: The Kwinana industrial area, and saw rapid expansion in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1928 the Signal Station at Fremantle was moved from Arthur Head to a site on Cantonment Hill . This building was replaced in 1956 by a new structure, whose functions were superseded in 1964 by the opening of a signal station on the new Port Authority administration building, which was opened by Premier David Brand on 5 March. Built in
3780-498: The United States, the term "nickel" or "nick" originally applied to the copper-nickel Flying Eagle cent , which replaced copper with 12% nickel 1857–58, then the Indian Head cent of the same alloy from 1859 to 1864. Still later, in 1865, the term designated the three-cent nickel , with nickel increased to 25%. In 1866, the five-cent shield nickel (25% nickel, 75% copper) appropriated the designation, which has been used ever since for
3864-570: The Up-River Extensions Scheme, and included new berths at the container terminal. The ship would then proceed to Sydney to unload and uplift more containers before proceeding to Melbourne . By 1970, Fremantle Port had moved 50,000 containers. A statue honouring C. Y. O'Connor was erected on Victoria Quay on 23 June 1911. It now stands near the entrance to the Fremantle Ports administration building on Cliff Street. During
3948-497: The alloy is usually in the proportion of 90:10 to 95:5, though impurities (such as cobalt or carbon ) may be present. Taenite is 20% to 65% nickel. Kamacite and taenite are also found in nickel iron meteorites . Nickel is commonly found in iron meteorites as the alloys kamacite and taenite . Nickel in meteorites was first detected in 1799 by Joseph-Louis Proust , a French chemist who then worked in Spain. Proust analyzed samples of
4032-464: The complete argon core structure. There is some disagreement on which configuration has the lower energy. Chemistry textbooks quote nickel's electron configuration as [Ar] 4s 3d , also written [Ar] 3d 4s . This configuration agrees with the Madelung energy ordering rule , which predicts that 4s is filled before 3d. It is supported by the experimental fact that the lowest energy state of the nickel atom
4116-484: The divalent complexes of the heavier group 10 metals, palladium(II) and platinum(II), which form only square-planar geometry. Nickelocene has an electron count of 20. Many chemical reactions of nickelocene tend to yield 18-electron products. Many Ni(III) compounds are known. Ni(III) forms simple salts with fluoride or oxide ions. Ni(III) can be stabilized by σ-donor ligands such as thiols and organophosphines . Ni(III) occurs in nickel oxide hydroxide , which
4200-691: The earth's crust exists as oxides, economically more important nickel ores are sulfides, especially pentlandite . Major production sites include the Sudbury region , Canada (which is thought to be of meteoric origin), New Caledonia in the Pacific , Western Australia , and Norilsk , Russia. Nickel is one of four elements (the others are iron , cobalt , and gadolinium ) that are ferromagnetic at about room temperature. Alnico permanent magnets based partly on nickel are of intermediate strength between iron-based permanent magnets and rare-earth magnets . The metal
4284-541: The entrance to the Swan River estuary was blocked by a rocky bar, which made the mouth of the river virtually impassable for seagoing vessels. The first steamship to enter the port was HMS Driver on 4 December 1845. Fremantle shipping was served by the Long Jetty that extended into the open sea, where Bathers Beach is today. Cargo was offloaded onto the jetty and then taken down Cliff Street in Fremantle's West End. It
SECTION 50
#17328977932014368-626: The entrance to the harbour where the Western Australian Maritime Museum is now located was also an important part of the wartime role of the harbour. On 28 March 1969, the first container ship to arrive in Australia, Encounter Bay from the United Kingdom docked at Fremantle's new container terminal. The terminal itself was officially opened the following day by WA Premier Sir David Brand. The expansion scheme began in 1965 as
4452-421: The first time in total tonnage of ships and the following year in the number of ships when it cleared 410 ships (1,045,170 tons) to Albany's 248 ships (540,910 tons). The railway from the harbour was constructed in the 1880s, and continued to be developed with railway workshops (later moved to Midland Junction ), railway sheds, railway marshalling yards, locomotive depots, and in 1907 Fremantle railway station
4536-479: The ground state configuration as [Ar] 3d 4s . The isotopes of nickel range in atomic weight from 48 u ( Ni ) to 82 u ( Ni ). Natural nickel is composed of five stable isotopes , Ni , Ni , Ni , Ni and Ni , of which Ni is the most abundant (68.077% natural abundance ). Nickel-62 has the highest binding energy per nucleon of any nuclide : 8.7946 MeV/nucleon. Its binding energy
4620-717: The large deposits in the Sudbury Basin in Canada in 1883, in Norilsk -Talnakh in Russia in 1920, and in the Merensky Reef in South Africa in 1924 made large-scale nickel production possible. Aside from the aforementioned Bactrian coins, nickel was not a component of coins until the mid-19th century. 99.9% nickel five-cent coins were struck in Canada (the world's largest nickel producer at
4704-772: The long half-life of Fe , its persistence in materials in the Solar System may generate observable variations in the isotopic composition of Ni . Therefore, the abundance of Ni in extraterrestrial material may give insight into the origin of the Solar System and its early history. At least 26 nickel radioisotopes have been characterized; the most stable are Ni with half-life 76,000 years, Ni (100 years), and Ni (6 days). All other radioisotopes have half-lives less than 60 hours and most these have half-lives less than 30 seconds. This element also has one meta state . Radioactive nickel-56
4788-504: The losses of battleships HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse on 10 December 1941 and the fall of Singapore in March 1942, many ships sought refuge at Fremantle; at times 30 were at anchor in Gage Roads. "In the inner harbour, it was ... a common sight to see up to as many as four vessels of substantial size lying in tier, and it was due solely to the circumstances forced upon the port and
4872-416: The metals at a profit. The United States Mint , anticipating this practice, implemented new interim rules on December 14, 2006, subject to public comment for 30 days, which criminalized the melting and export of cents and nickels. Violators can be punished with a fine of up to $ 10,000 and/or a maximum of five years in prison. As of September 19, 2013, the melt value of a US nickel (copper and nickel included)
4956-446: The meteorite from Campo del Cielo (Argentina), which had been obtained in 1783 by Miguel Rubín de Celis, discovering the presence in them of nickel (about 10%) along with iron. The most common oxidation state of nickel is +2, but compounds of Ni , Ni , and Ni are well known, and the exotic oxidation states Ni and Ni have been characterized. Nickel tetracarbonyl (Ni(CO) 4 ), discovered by Ludwig Mond ,
5040-466: The mine and WMC being able through its other state assets to take a long-term approach to nickel mining in Western Australia, the mine was sold in late 1988, with BP's interest sold for an undisclosed amount while MIM Holdings sold theirs for A$ 120 million. WMC subsequently reopened the mine, resuming operations in May 1989. WMC renamed the mine to Leinster Nickel Operations while it renamed its local gold mine,
5124-477: The mine, the second one dying while attempting to rescue the first. On 11 April 2010, a miner fell to his death at the mines underground operation. The fatality of the five miners in 1977 resulted in a trail for manslaughter in the Kalgoorlie Supreme Court of four employees at the mine, the registered manager, the master shaft-sinker, an electrical engineer and a winder-driver. Nickel Nickel
SECTION 60
#17328977932015208-505: The only source for nickel was the rare Kupfernickel. Beginning in 1824, nickel was obtained as a byproduct of cobalt blue production. The first large-scale smelting of nickel began in Norway in 1848 from nickel-rich pyrrhotite . The introduction of nickel in steel production in 1889 increased the demand for nickel; the nickel deposits of New Caledonia , discovered in 1865, provided most of the world's supply between 1875 and 1915. The discovery of
5292-469: The parent company of Western Selcast, Selection Trust , and therefore a 60 percent interest in the mine. On 15 August 1986, operations at the Agnew Mine ceased because of declining nickel prices, with the mine being placed in care and maintenance. The closure of the mine affected WMC Resources negatively as it reduced the throughput in its Kalgoorlie smelter. With BP Australia and MIM Holdings willing to sell
5376-466: The port for some weeks." Fremantle Submarine Base was the largest submarine base in the southern hemisphere during World War II. The first United States submarines arrived at Fremantle in 1942, the US Navy built a submarine repair facility on North Quay the next year, and until 1945 the port accommodated more than 170 submarines from the U.S., British and Dutch navies. The slipway on the south side of
5460-521: The port of Fremantle. The area is the most northern of one of four coastal basins formed from the flooding of a depression between Pleistocene aeolianite ridges running north–south, and the subsequent deposition of east–west Holocene banks. The seabed of Gage Roads is covered by seagrass . The limits of the Inner and Outer Harbour go north beyond Gage Roads and Rottnest to a line west of Trigg , and south into most of Cockburn Sound. The outer harbour has
5544-400: The prevailing weather conditions that such a state of affairs could be permitted. Altogether, some 75 vessels were using the inner and outer harbours at one and the same time, and in the fortnight ending 20 March, a total of 103 vessels, Naval and merchant, and mainly seeking refuge, arrived at the port. Until these vessels could be ordered to some other destination, acute conditions persisted at
5628-555: The previous year. The average sale price for the produced nickel was US$ 16,250 per tonne. In 2021–22, Nickel West's nickel production fell to 77,000 tonnes. As of 2022, mining occurs at the Camelot open-pit and the Venus and B11 underground operations, while mining at the Rocky’s Reward open pit ceased in 2021. Underground mining at Leinster was suspended between 2013 and 2016. Ore for the mine
5712-407: The principal mineral mixtures are nickeliferous limonite , (Fe,Ni)O(OH), and garnierite (a mixture of various hydrous nickel and nickel-rich silicates). Nickel sulfides commonly exist as solid solutions with iron in minerals such as pentlandite and pyrrhotite with the formula Fe 9-x Ni x S 8 and Fe 7-x Ni x S 6 , respectively. Other common Ni-containing minerals are millerite and
5796-840: The proposed federation of Australian colonies unless they agreed. On 3 August 1900, Forrest won when the Postmaster-General in London informed the Post Master-General in Perth that Fremantle would be substituted for Albany as the port of call for Mail Packets. Ten days later the Orient Steam Navigation Company 's RMS Ormuz , homeward bound from Sydney to London, was the first British mail carrier to enter and berth in Fremantle Harbour. In 1901 Fremantle surpassed Albany for
5880-610: The red-painted North Mole Lighthouse , which commenced operation in 1906, located at the end of the westernmost point of the harbour. As the port neared completion, Forrest lobbied the British to have Fremantle as the port of call for the Mail Packets. Victoria and New South Wales fought for the retention of Albany as the Mail Packet port, as they were fearful they would lose business. Forrest threatened Western Australia may stay out of
5964-477: The reversible reduction of protons to H 2 . Nickel(II) forms compounds with all common anions, including sulfide , sulfate , carbonate, hydroxide, carboxylates, and halides. Nickel(II) sulfate is produced in large amounts by dissolving nickel metal or oxides in sulfuric acid , forming both a hexa- and heptahydrate useful for electroplating nickel. Common salts of nickel, such as chloride, nitrate, and sulfate, dissolve in water to give green solutions of
6048-597: The ships have to lay and discharge at the wharf or pay lighterage.... It is blowing a gale from the SW ... and takes all our time to hold her.... She had done considerable damage to herself.... It is certainly the worst place I or anyone else ever saw. No place to send a ship of this size.... Any man who would come or send a ship a second time is a damned ass." British marine engineer John Coode advised John Forrest an outer harbour near Rous Head, or one that would stretch south from Arthur's Head, could be built. Coode ruled out building
6132-464: The subsequent 5-cent pieces. This alloy proportion is not ferromagnetic . The US nickel coin contains 0.04 ounces (1.1 g) of nickel, which at the April 2007 price was worth 6.5 cents, along with 3.75 grams of copper worth about 3 cents, with a total metal value of more than 9 cents. Since the face value of a nickel is 5 cents, this made it an attractive target for melting by people wanting to sell
6216-399: The terrestrial age of meteorites and to determine abundances of extraterrestrial dust in ice and sediment . Nickel-78, with a half-life of 110 milliseconds, is believed an important isotope in supernova nucleosynthesis of elements heavier than iron. Ni, discovered in 1999, is the most proton-rich heavy element isotope known. With 28 protons and 20 neutrons , Ni is " doubly magic ", as
6300-552: The time) during non-war years from 1922 to 1981; the metal content made these coins magnetic. During the war years 1942–1945, most or all nickel was removed from Canadian and US coins to save it for making armor. Canada used 99.9% nickel from 1968 in its higher-value coins until 2000. Coins of nearly pure nickel were first used in 1881 in Switzerland. Birmingham forged nickel coins in c. 1833 for trading in Malaysia. In
6384-456: The wheel was the first ship to enter the partly built port. "While the harbour has been deepened, and facilities extended and modernised over the years, the basic structure of the Inner Harbour remains essentially unchanged to this day, testament to the boldness, brilliance and foresight of its designer." There are two lighthouses on either side of the entrance to the harbour, the green-coloured South Mole Lighthouse, in operation since 1903, and
6468-735: Was able to take up an inner harbour berth, and instead anchored in Gage Roads . Other well-known ships to visit included RMS Strathaird , RMS Strathnaver , RMS Orion and RMS Otranto . In 1940 boom defences were installed in the harbour as a security measure and anti-aircraft installations were built. By January 1941 an anti-submarine indicator loop was installed between Swanbourne and Rottnest to warn of any ships passing over it. Outer harbour defences included an anti-submarine net spanning 9370 metres of seabed from Woodman Point to Garden Island along Parmelia Bank , as well as another indicator loop 183 metres further north. Following
6552-660: Was acquired by BHP , which bundled WMC's nickel assets under its Nickel West brand, which became the largest nickel producer in the state, producing a combined 67,000 tonnes out of the 180,000 tonnes produced in Western Australia in 2004–05. At the time of the WMC acquisition by BHP, the mine employed over 1,100 people. Due to an oversupply of nickel and a consequent drop in nickel prices, BHP announced on 11 July 2024 that it would temporarily close all of its Nickel West operations in October 2024 and place them in care and maintenance . This decision
6636-436: Was commissioned at the mine, with the concentrate processed at WMC Resources 's Kalgoorlie Nickel Smelter. The concentrate was transported by road to Leonora , and from there by rail to Kalgoorlie . The mine was officially opened on 5 November 1978 by Charles Court , Premier of Western Australia . The concentrator of the mine was subsequently enlarged to 500,000 tonnes in 1980 and 750,000 tonnes in 1984. In 1985, BP acquired
6720-477: Was discovered in 1971 by Western Selcast Pty Ltd. To develop this asset, the Agnew Mining Company was formed in 1974, of which 60 percent were owned by Western Selcast and 40 percent by MIM Holdings , and development of the mine started in 1976, with underground mining commencing in 1978 in what was then referred to as the Agnew Mine . In May 1978, a conventional concentrator with an annual capacity of 350,000 tonnes
6804-462: Was first isolated and classified as an element in 1751 by Axel Fredrik Cronstedt , who initially mistook the ore for a copper mineral , in the cobalt mines of Los, Hälsingland, Sweden . The element's name comes from a mischievous sprite of German miner mythology, Nickel (similar to Old Nick ). Nickel minerals can be green, like copper ores, and were known as kupfernickel – Nickel's copper – because they produced no copper. Although most nickel in
6888-537: Was loaded onto barges that sailed up the river on the westerly sea breeze and back to Fremantle on easterly winds. Later it was transported by rail. Sailors disliked the Long Jetty: in 1892 Captain D.B. Shaw of the American barque Saranac described it as "terrible": "... entered and fought against putting the vessel alongside jetty to discharge. It is a terrible place. No place to put a vessel. No shelter whatever. All
6972-421: Was opened. During World War II, the harbour accommodated scores of Allied naval vessels on active service. Battleships, troop transports, hospital ships and support vessels, including many passenger ships , were seconded into the war effort. Visitors to Fremantle during the conflict included passenger liners and converted troop carriers RMS Queen Elizabeth and RMS Queen Mary . Because of their size neither
7056-429: Was patented by Ludwig Mond and has been in industrial use since before the beginning of the 20th century. In this process, nickel is treated with carbon monoxide in the presence of a sulfur catalyst at around 40–80 °C to form nickel carbonyl . In a similar reaction with iron, iron pentacarbonyl can form, though this reaction is slow. If necessary, the nickel may be separated by distillation. Dicobalt octacarbonyl
#200799