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PrintBHP Billiton is permanently shutting down its underground nickel mine at Leinster in Western Australia's Goldfields, resulting in 200 job losses.
The mine has been operating since the late 1970s with BHP owning it since 2005.
The miner says it is no longer safe to mine in the sub-level cave of its Nickel West Perseverance mine, following a seismic event in October.
BHP has spent the past six weeks assessing the safety of the mine.
It has now decided to put it on care and maintenance.
Nickel West president Paul Harvey says safety comes first.
"The reason is purely safety driven, we have a very strong focus on safety, it is the core value of the organisation," he said.
He says the company will attempt to redeploy the 200 affected workers into other operations but warns there will probably be some redundancies.
"We have about 500 workers at Leinster and about 200 of those workers from underground will be impacted by the decision; our first focus is on those individuals, Mr Harvey said.
"This kind of decision is very difficult to take at this time of year, we understand the nickel business is a challenged business.
"But we have a great team here at Nickel West, we're used to working in this environment and we'll continue to focus on everything we can do everything we can do and all the steps we can take to make Nickel West a stronger, leaner, sustainable business."
Mr Harvey says workers are being spoken to.
"We've started our briefings with all of our teams at the Leinster mine and also across our other operations and the Perth office, and those conversations will continue," he said.
The processing facility at Leinster will remain in operation, continuing to take ore from the company's Mt Keith mine as well as a third party.
The company will also re-open its nearby Rocky's Reward mine to fill the gap in production created by the closure of Perseverance.
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