WA town bleeds from deep BHP cuts

Premier Colin Barnett will make an emergency visit to a West Australian town that says it will be slashed in half by BHP Billiton's decision to shelve a nickel mine at a cost of almost 1,500 jobs.

A further 300 jobs will also go at the company's Mount Keith nickel mine, 720km
north-east of Perth, BHP said on Wednesday as it announced plans to cut about 6,000
jobs from its 101,000-strong global workforce.
About 3,400 of those jobs will be lost in Australia - and most of those in WA. BHP's
move will also cost the state government up to $20 million in lost mining royalties.
But it's the rural town of Ravensthorpe, in the state's south-east, that will pay
the heaviest price when 1,450 jobs go at the Ravensthorpe nickel mine.
Ravensthorpe, along with the towns of Jerdacuttup and Hopetoun, services the mine
site and has boomed since it began operating in 2007.
When the axed workers and their families leave town, along with associated
contractors and business people, the population is expected to halve.
"Our population has doubled in the last four years and I'm expecting it to probably
go back to what it was four years ago," Ravensthorpe shire president Brenda Tilbrook
said on Wednesday.
"Between the miners themselves and their families and their children and all the
businesses, it's probably a thousand people.
"There's a lot of people who have invested in Hopetoun and Ravensthorpe specifically
to deal with the mine, so those people ... you know, their business just basically
won't exist anymore."
And Hopetoun will be left with a giant white elephant - a sprawling new school built
to cope with growth associated with a mine that will no longer function.
"The state government built us a primary school in Hopetoun specifically because of
BHP coming," Ms Tilbrook said.
"That's been open two years and it was about to open this year with 180 children in
a couple of weeks. I would expect it might open with 50, so that's a huge impact on
a community."
Western Australia's Acting Premier Kim Hames said BHP Billiton had informed him and
Mr Barnett of the job cuts early on Wednesday.
It was inevitable that WA would be touched by the international economic crisis, he
said.
He said almost $30 million in state and federal funding had been poured into the
region in the lead up to the Ravensthorpe mine opening, and during its operation.
In addition to those losses, he said the decision to mothball the mine would cost
the WA government between $10 and $20 million in mining royalties. The effect of
reduced payroll tax had not yet been calculated.
Mr Barnett, who has been on leave, will cut short his holiday and fly to
Ravensthorpe on Thursday so he can speak with the local council and affected
workers.
"Sadly the international downturn has had significant effects not just on the world
but as we expected on Australia and Western Australia and more particularly in the
mining industry," Dr Hames told reporters.
"It is not possible for companies to go from having a nickel value of $US52,000 a
tonne in mid-2007 to $US10,000 a tonne..."
WA Mines Minister Norman Moore said laterite nickel required high-cost processing.
Mr Moore said he hoped the mine would reopen if higher growth levels were indicated
for China and the need for stainless steel was revived.
The minister will meet with BHP Billiton next week to ensure workers receive their
entitlements.
Mr Moore said prospects for new gold ventures, uranium mining and iron projects were
hopeful over the next three to four years.
"We have to remain positive about this..." he said.
For Ravensthorpe though, the future will likely depend on a return to the town's
strong agricultural traditions.
"That was there long before BHP Billiton and will be there long after," Ms Tilbrook
said.
"It was a great place to live and work and bring up your children four-and-a-half
years ago ... and it will still be a great place to live and work and bring up your
children after they leave."