Future Tasmania: Avebury Nickel mines electric opportunities

After 13 years lying dormant in Tasmania’s mining heartland, the Avebury Nickel Mine is up and running once more – and its owner has big plans to transform it.

The Avebury Nickel mine underground.

AFTER 13 years lying dormant in Tasmania’s mining heartland, the Avebury Nickel Mine is up and running once more – and its owner has plans to transform it into the “leading Australian example of a modern critical minerals producer”.

Mallee Resources managing director, John Lamb, a Tasmanian, said the mine, which officially reopened in November last year, will be a significant supplier of nickel sulphide, which is a key material used to make electric vehicle batteries.

“We’re aiming to produce as much as we can while keeping to our principles of being clean and low impact,” Mr Lamb said.

“We’re seeing the emergence of EVs in the light passenger transport sector, which is helpful, but there needs to be a push into heavy industry and that’s going to take bigger batteries with greater energy densities, and therefore more nickel.”

The Avebury Nickel mine from the sky.

Currently supplying smelters in Asia and Europe, Avebury, located about eight kilometres west of Zeehan, is set to achieve nameplate production this year, meaning it will produce about 7000-7500 tonnes of nickel per annum.

It will then shift its attention to its expansion plan, increasing production by about 30 per cent, making the mine a significant Australian nickel producer, Mr Lamb said.

Independent consultant Climatech has estimated Avebury’s present carbon intensity at 1.9 tonnes of CO2 per tonne of nickel produced.

“I would be surprised if there are many producers that low globally,” Mr Lamb said.

Avebury is embarking on an energy efficiency program, going through each item in the plant to identify ways of making them use less energy, such as swapping fixed speed drives for variable speed drives, looking at adopting electric light vehicles and, ultimately, switching diesel mining machines for electric ones.

Miners working underground at the Avebury Nickel Mine. Picture: Supplied

It will begin this process this year with its drill fleet, hoping to have its first all-electric mining machine – a battery-electric ‘jumbo’ drill – delivered about mid-2023. Avebury will then look to trade out its loaders and trucks for battery-powered versions.

“Beyond that, Avebury has a few more tricks up its sleeve and a genuine plan to produce supremely low-carbon nickel – even zero-carbon nickel – at our mine gate, if and when we’re able to afford the cost of doing so,” Mr Lamb said.

By 2040, when Tasmania hopes to increase renewable energy generation to 200 per cent of the state’s current needs, Mr Lamb said he envisioned a mining sector where mines were “smart [and] embracing technology to enhance safety and productivity”.

“[Mines in 2040] are clean – carbon minimalists and water purifiers,” he said.

“They are diverse – not blokesy.

“What’s the point of that?”