Key points
- Financial terms are confidential; the deal needs regulatory approvals and should close in 2027.
- BHP suspended its Western Australia Nickel operations in early 2024 amid oversupply driven by Indonesian output.
- BHP will decide by February 2027 whether to divest, restart, keep suspended or close its remaining nickel assets.
BHP has agreed to sell its Kambalda Nickel Concentrator and a package of associated tenements and mineralization rights in Western Australia to Gold Fields, handing the Johannesburg-listed gold miner an idle processing plant near its St Ives operation.
The global miner confirmed the agreement on Wednesday in an emailed response to Reuters, but said the financial terms were confidential.
The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and other conditions, with completion expected during 2027.
The concentrator has sat idle since early 2024, when BHP temporarily suspended its Western Australia Nickel business in response to a global glut.
Rising Indonesian supply and weaker prices made the Australian operations uneconomic, and the downturn prompted Canberra later that year to designate nickel a critical mineral, opening the industry to billions of dollars in government support.
What Gold Fields gets
According to BHP, Gold Fields will evaluate options for the long-term use of the concentrator and will offer employment to the people directly supporting the asset.
The company has not said whether it intends to process nickel, repurpose the plant for gold ore or hold the tenements for their mineral potential.
The geography favors the buyer. Kambalda sits beside Gold Fields’ St Ives gold mine in the Goldfields region, and the associated tenements add ground in a district the company already knows well.
Consequently, the deal looks less like a bet on nickel prices than a consolidation of infrastructure and land around an existing operation.
BHP’s wider nickel reckoning
The sale is one piece of a larger review. BHP said it would decide the future of its remaining nickel assets by February 2027, weighing divestment, continued suspension, a restart or closure.
Nickel prices have not recovered convincingly since the 2024 shutdown, and Indonesia’s recent production curbs have so far left the market unconvinced.
Meanwhile, the deal gives Gold Fields something to show in Western Australia while its larger ambition, a $27 billion takeover of Northern Star Resources, remains stalled after the target rejected further talks last month.
BHP shares were down 0.8% at A$62.38 in late trade.
