[3] Reduced production from the Kalgoorlie smelter and lesser global demand led the refinery to switch to a campaign-style mode from 1989 to 1991.

Once full production was resumed the refinery exceeded 30 thousand tonnes (66 million pounds) of refined nickel per annum for the first time.

WMC had, prior to this, explored the prospect of finding refinery capacity outside of Australia, concerned by high gas prices, but dropped these plans when the Western Australian government made some concessions on the royalty payments of the company.

[7] In 2021–22, BHP signed an agreement with renewable energy provider TransAlta to build a solar farm and a battery storage system in the Northern Goldfields, designed to power the Kalgoorlie smelter, the Kwinana refinery and the Kambalda concentrator, the later having been in care and maintenance since 2018 but being recommissioned in May 2022.

This decision is scheduled to be reviewed in February 2027 but BHP would continue to spend $450 million annually on its nickel operations to facilitate a potential restart.

[3] The refinery also established a tailings disposal area at Baldivis, which also received complaints from a local neighbour, a problem that WMC solved by buying them out.

Of greater concern was seepage from the tailings into the ground water, which posed a direct thread to the near-by Lake Cooloongup.

Bell collapsed in a hazardous environment in a convertor vessel due to what is presumed to have been a faulty seal on his face mask.