The WA government will offer royalty relief to Western Australia’s crucial nickel industry, supporting thousands of local jobs as well as the state’s vision of becoming a global battery minerals processing hub.

WA Premier Roger Cook said: “The nickel industry supported almost 10,000 jobs and generated sales of more than $5 billion last financial year.

“It is also an essential component of the state’s vision of becoming a global hub for the downstream processing of battery metals.”

The WA nickel industry has experienced extremely challenging global market conditions in recent times, which have prompted mine and processing plant suspensions, and significantly impacted jobs.

These challenging conditions have been caused by a significant structural disruption to the global market prompted by a surge in lower-cost supply from other countries coming onstream.

In response, the WA government will offer local nickel producers a 50 per cent royalty rebate — starting from the March quarter of 2024 — and will be available over 18 months through a new Nickel Financial Assistance Program.

The rebate will be provided if the average price of nickel in concentrate is below US$20,000 per tonne for a given quarter.

The companies will then repay the rebate in equal quarterly instalments for the next 24 months.

Companies will need to apply for financial assistance and provide details of their need for support — including information on their finances and projected economics, as well as steps taken to adjust to the current price environment and structural changes in the industry.

WA Mines and Petroleum Minister David Michael said: “Our nickel miners are competing internationally with mining jurisdictions that have significantly lower environment, social, and governance standards.

“It’s important that they are supported to weather the storm of current market conditions, so they can be part of ongoing and future efforts to decarbonise the globe.”