Despite the early discovery, the mine was not developed at the time because of low nickel prices in the 1970s and the project's large infrastructure costs.

[6] ACM entered an equal joint venture with Outokumpu to develop Mount Keith at a projected cost of A$417.4 million and a start-up date of May 1992.

In May 1991, ACM's managing director approached WMC as well as a few other mining companies with the request of taking over the former.

WMC Resources concluded that it wasn't interested in the takeover but wanted to acquire the Mount Keith project.

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.

[12] After crushing and processing the ore on site, nickel concentrate is transported by road from the mine to Leinster for drying and subsequent on-shipping.

[7] Production figures published by the company for the whole Nickel West Operations and not broken down to individual mines.