Add Category
Updated
The loss of a small town's biggest employer might be enough to bring some communities to their knees, but not Ravensthorpe in Western Australia's south-east.
It has had plenty of practise weathering the boom/bust cycles of both mining and agriculture, and while some residents are packing their bags, many say they are not going anywhere.
Low nickel prices prompted First Quantum Minerals (FQM) to announce last month it would be mothballing its nickel mine.
The Toronto-based mining giant employed about 270 people at the Ravensthorpe mine, and the closure follows devastating floods which swept through the area earlier this year.
But this is not the first time, or even the second time, Ravensthorpe has been hit by a mine closure — this time residents were prepared.
Former FQM worker Jason Jones, who now farms near Hopetoun, said the company's announcement did not come as a surprise.
He said unlike the sudden BHP shut down in 2008, local people could see the First Quantum mine was struggling long before the announcement to put it into care and maintenance.
"The closure of the mine was not a huge shock, a lot of people have positioned themselves for it," Mr Jones said
He also said agriculture had long been the backbone of the local economy and the prospects of a good cropping season had buoyed the community.
'We're bigger than them anyway'
As president of the Southerners Sporting Association, Mr Jones watched the steady decline of mine workers in the local football hockey and netball teams.
But he said the sporting groups would find ways to carry on.
"With the mine closing we will lose a lot of sponsorship, but in saying that our local businesses support us just as much," Mr Jones said.
"I view [the future] very positively. Agriculture and tourism underpin it.
"I like to think that we as a community can support each other. If there's big players in town so be it, but we are bigger than them anyway."
Agriculture, tourism key to future
Sue Leighton was involved with BHP's initial opening up of the nickel mine in 2007.
A decade on, and with the mine shutting down for a second time, she also believed the long-term future of Ravensthorpe and Hopetoun rested with agriculture and tourism.
Ms Leighton is an organiser of the Ravensthorpe Wildflower Show.
She said thousands of people travel to the area for its unique flora, and there have been record visitor numbers to this year's show, which ends on Saturday.
"We've already got bookings from tour buses for next year for tourists to come to our wildflower show, so it's really important [as] they always spend a bit of money in town," she said.
"I always think farming goes up and down, mining comes and goes, wildflowers are here forever and that's our future, eco tourism."
Ravensthorpe Shire chief executive Ian Fitzgerald said there was no doubt the floods and the mine closure made for a tough year for the area.
It is estimated 30 children would leave the Hopetoun Primary School at the end of this term.
"I think over the next six weeks we'll feel the impact of those leaving the community, as school goes into holiday mode and people take the opportunity to move if they need to," Mr Fitzgerald said.
However, it wasn't all bad news.
"First Quantum keeping a care and maintenance crew on of 15 to 20 people will be good for the community," he said.
Lithium offers jobs' lifeline
Stronger prices for lithium have also given the area a boost.
Some of the nickel mine workers have moved over to Galaxy Resources' lithium mine, just north of Ravensthorpe.
Galaxy closed Mt Cattlin in 2013, but reopened it several years later on the back of stronger lithium prices.
Mine manager Brian Talbot said the company had made it a policy to hire as many Ravensthorpe and Hopetoun residents as possible — with locals making up more than 80 per cent of Galaxy's staff at the site.
"Our mandate as a company is to employ local, and if we can't employ local then to relocate them to be local," he said.
"Ravensthorpe feels very positive to be part of the lithium boom and for a small town like Ravensthorpe to be part of that in the future sounds quite exciting and I think the people can feel that."
The State Government said at the time of FQM's announcement it would seek to assist those who were to be laid off.
Mines and Petroleum Minister Bill Johnston will visit the area this weekend to meet Shire of Ravensthorpe representatives, First Quantum Minerals management and workers.
Topics: business-economics-and-finance, mining-industry, regional, ravensthorpe-6346
First posted