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Nickel mining in Western Australia has been an industry that has had many fluctuations of fortune in its history. Large fluctuations in the world nickel price〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Nickel Monthly Price - US Dollars per Metric Ton )〕 have seen mines close and reopen on several occasions. In 2004/05, the value of nickel production ($2.3 billion) exceeded that of gold ($2.2 billion).〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=An update on the economy of Western Australia’s Goldfields-Esperance Region )〕 In the 2011 calendar year, nickel contributed $3.9 billion or four per cent to the value of the State's resources.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Western Australian resources industry delivers a record $107 billion in sales in 2011 )〕 Nickel production in the same year was 188,000 tonnes. Australia (predominantly Western Australia) holds one-third of the world's known reserves of nickel-producing laterites and sulfide deposits.〔(【引用サイトリンク】work=U.S. Geological Survey, Mineral Commodity Summaries )〕 As of 2011, Australia was the world's fifth largest nickel producer. The only other significant Australian nickel production outside Western Australia is a refinery at Yabulu, Queensland which processes ore from New Caledonia, Indonesia, and the Philippines. ==Early mines== Nickel mines were developed in the late 1960s in Kambalda, Laverton and the Kimberley region of Western Australia. The price of nickel peaked at about ₤7,000 per pound in late 1969, driven by demand from the Vietnam War and the major Canadian producer, Inco (now Vale Limited), being embroiled in industrial action, creating a supply shortage. In November 1969, a prospector working for Poseidon NL made a promising nickel discovery at Mount Windara near Laverton. The discovery created a spectacular investment bubble when its shares moved from $0.50 to $280 in February 1970. During the early 1970s, an exploration boom fueled by speculators followed, with new companies searching for new deposits. Western Mining Corporation (WMC) purchased Poseidon and developed the find into a major mining and processing operation which continued until 1989.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Windarra Nickel Project )〕 WMC had initially identified a total resource of 8.5 million tonnes of ore @ 2.02% Ni for 172,000 tonnes of nickel metal.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Mount Windara )〕 The first shipment of nickel concentrate was made in 1974, but by this time the nickel price had fallen significantly. By 1990 the company had mined 5 million tonnes of ore at an average grade of 1.59% Ni and had produced 80,000 tonnes of the metal. Operations at Windara re-commenced several times during the 1990s. Several of the Kambalda mines have since been sold and the remainder are known the Windarra Nickel Project which, as of 2012 is under care and maintenance. WMC was taken over by BHP Billiton and the company was delisted in 2005. In 1971 the movie Nickel Queen was able to reflect upon the Poseidon bubble. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Nickel mining in Western Australia」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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