Ravensthorpe Nickel Project (s46)

Project
Proposal description

Inquiry under s46 into the request for a number of substantial changes to the Ravensthorpe Nickel Project, located approximately 35 km east of Ravensthorpe, the subject of Ministerial Statement 509.

In summary, the proposed changes include:

  • mining of additional ore reserves contained within the Shoemaker-Levy and Hale-Bopp deposits and a resulting increase in clearing within the Bandalup Corridor;
  • changes to the processing of ore and the final product: a) deletion of nickel electrowinning, cobalt sulphide precipitation, and hydrogen sulphide plant; b) a redesigned hydrometallurgical process plant to produce a final product of 220 000 tpa mixed nickel cobalt hydroxide product;
Assessment Number
1426
Referred under EP Act
s46
Industry sector
Last updated
Current Status
Ministerial Statement published
2. Decision on whether to assess this proposal
4. EPA Report on assessment
EPA Report Number
1093
Date published
Appeals close
5. Decision on proposal and implementation of proposal
Ministerial Statement
Date of approval
Post-assessment changes
s. 45C amendments

Attachment to Statement 633 – Redesign of the seawater intake facility – change to proposal approved under section 45C on 3 December 2004.

Attachment 1 to Statement 633 – Increase the maximum allowable area of the evaporation pond from 250 hectares to 391 hectares – change to proposal approved under section 45C on 22 December 2008.

Attachment 2 to Statement 633 – Construct and operate a Sands Reject Storage Facility - change to proposal approved under section 45C on 23 September 2010.

Attachment 3 to Statement 633 – Increase in disturbance footprint of 282 ha and removal of elements considered not environmentally relevant or managed under other legislation – change to proposal approved under section 45C on 12 August 2014.

Attachment 4 to Statement 633 - Changes:

  • Administrative changes to better define the proposal in schedule 1
  • Define development envelopes and combining project elements to allow flexibility in implementation, without increasing the authorised extent
  • Include the access corridor (from Shoemaker-Levy to the process plant) to the authorised extent table
  • Include the seawater pipeline and intake to the authorised extent table
  • Add 289 hectares of cleared farmland for topsoil stockpiles, access tracks and miscellaneous infrastructure to the authorised extent table
  • Amend the boundaries of the Halleys pit, Halleys overburden storage area and Hale- Bopp pit to incorporate historical clearing of native vegetation, without increasing the total authorised clearing extent
  • Include the limestone quarry to Figure 1.
  • Minor variation to the alignment of the access corridor in Figure 2
  • Consistent naming of project elements between the tables and figures
  • Remove elements that are duplicated.

Change to proposal approved under section 45C on 23 May 2019.

Attachment 5 to Statement 633 – Expansion of Southern Mines and Processing Development Envelope by 0.06 ha. Expansion of Tamarine Limestone Quarry Development Envelope by 71.8 ha and disturbance by 76.7 ha. Increase Seawater Pipeline and Intake Development Envelope by 20.3 ha. Increase Access Corridor Development Envelope by 1.6 ha - change to proposal approved under section 45C on 4 March 2025.

Attachment 6 to Statement 633 – Inclusion of wording in Table 2 to reflect the expansion of Southern Mines and Processing Development Envelope by 0.06 ha, authorised under Attachment 5 • Removal of reference to a windfarm • Correction of spelling error in Table 1. Change to proposal approved under section 45C on 10 September 2025.

Date of approval s. 45C
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