Summary of "Nickel sulphide deposits in Australia: Challenges and new opportunities"

Dean Hoatson

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Summary

Dean Hoatson (Minerals Division) provided a keynote presentation titled 'Nickel sulphide deposits in Australia: Challenges and new opportunities' at the Australian Nickel Conference 2005, in Perth on 19 October 2005.

Australia's nickel sulphide industry has had a fluctuating history since the discovery in 1966 of massive sulphides at Kambalda in the Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia. Periods of buoyant nickel prices and high demand, speculative exploration, and frenetic investment (the 'nickel boom' years) have been interspersed by protracted periods of relatively depressed metal prices, exploration inactivity, and low discovery rates. Despite this unpredictable evolution, Australia's nickel industry has had a significant impact on the world scene. This presentation reviews the characteristics and resources of Australia's nickel sulphide deposits, and highlights some of the more important challenges and new opportunities confronting the nickel industry today.