Nifty Copper Mine
Nifty Copper Mine is an open pit and underground mining operation in the Great Sandy Desert in northern Western Australia. It has been owned by Metals X since August 2016. The open pit extracts copper oxide ore. The underground mine reaches a deeper copper sulphide ore.
The Nifty copper resource was discovered in 1981 by Western Mining Corporation and mining commenced in 1983. Nifty was purchased by Straits Resources in 1998, Aditya Birla Minerals in March 2003 then by its current owners in August 2016.
Underground mine development commenced in January 2004 via a decline from the bottom of the open pit. Ore was first intersected in February 2005 and first concentrate production in March 2006. Mining operations were suspended in November 2019 due to poor prices for copper.
The mine is serviced by Nifty Airport which has fly-in fly-out workers from Perth, Western Australia on charter flights. It is also serviced by road, 350 km from Port Hedland, the last 45 km is unsealed, beyond the Woodie Woodie Mine.
