Climate Changed

The World's Biggest Miner Is Building a Battery Supply Hub It Doesn't Want

BHP transforming nickel unit to target global battery market
Revamp to boost value for any sale, lift cashflow: Tribeca

Bloomberg’s David Stringer explains why BHP is building an electric vehicles hub it doesn’t want to keep.(Source: Bloomberg)

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By David Stringer

January 10, 2018 at 7:00 PM UTC

Updated on

January 11, 2018 at 11:55 AM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

Electric vehicles could hold the key to BHP Billiton Ltd. finally finding a buyer for its unwanted nickel operations.

The world’s top miner is accelerating plans to transform Nickel West in Western Australia into a linchpin of the global supply chain for electric vehicle batteries. The switch in focus promises to woo new suitors after an aborted 2014 attempt to sell the business, a supplier to the stainless steel sector for about half a century.