A major milestone for BHP’s Nickel West at Leinster

B11 Block cave

BHP Billiton Nickel West Pty Ltd recorded that the B11 block cave is now fully operational after resolving all problems that derived from the firing of the last drawbell last month.

The block cave mining method involves undermining the orebody to make it collapse under its weight into a series of chambers from which the ore is extracted. The operation applied in Leinster is the most innovative and will allow nickel production in the Leinster mine for the next 7 years.

Mike Moscarda from BHP has highlighted the importance of nickel production in Leinster. He stated: “Now that it’s complete (editorial: B11 block cave), it will contribute up to 50% of the ore in production at Leinster.” The applied mining method allows for safe, low-cost continued production and reduces the impact of seismic activity in the workplace.

Brendon Shadlow has added that the applied mining method began as a way to make mining more sustainable at B12 which is known for its seismic activity. He stated: “With the new block cave, we can safely and efficiently continue mining even in the event of seismic activity.”
In 2013 exploitation at B11 Leinster was closed due to the major seismic activity.

Knowledge transfer

BHP provides that Block Cave will now be established as a technical center. It was highlighted that all learnings and conclusions derived from this project will help shape the future of mining techniques at Nickel West. BHP Head of Planning and Technical Chris Stone said: “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.”

The B11 block cave is planned to recover over 80,000t of nickel.