Resources Minister Madeleine King blasts BHP boss Mike Henry and slaps Peter Dutton with Clive Palmer jibe

Madeleine King says thousands of Nickel West workers may pay the price for BHP’s decision to neglect its Kalgoorlie smelter, all but confirming the Federal Government will not bail out the floundering operation.

The Resources Minister also launched the latest verbal attack against Peter Dutton over the coalition’s opposition to tax breaks for miners, dredging up his prior support of maverick billionaire Clive Palmer.

There had been talk the Government could help fund the refurbishment of Nickel West’s vital smelter to stave off a potential shuttering of the operation.

BHP is set to make a decision on the future of its in-trouble Nickel West business in August. About 3300 jobs will be on the chopping block if it places its assets on care and maintenance.

Ms King seemed to close the door on providing the Big Australian a direct lifeline while speaking at a mining summit in Perth on Wednesday.

“On Nickel West we will work together as best we can ... these are ageing facilities, there are choices companies make to return capital to their shareholders, or 10 or 15 years ago maybe making upgrades to those facilities so that they last longer.

“They (BHP) really chose not to upgrade the facilities and instead return capital to shareholders ... and they are perfectly entitled to that.

“But the price now is that the workers will probably face a different consequence.”

Ms King also used her speech to blast BHP chief executive Mike Henry over his attacks on the Government over its controversial industrial relations reforms.

“BHP have a record of attacking the Government’s IR policies across its whole portfolio,” she said.

“I guess Mike Henry just has a broader opposition to that side of this Government’s policy.”

Mr Henry has been an ardent critic of the Government’s crackdown on labour hire laws and last year stated it was taking Australia in the “wrong direction” and would add $1.3 billion to BHP’s annual wage bill.

In February he also urged the Government to fix its IR policies before offering subsidies.

Ms King also had Mr Dutton in her crosshairs, saying that “quite bizarrely” the Opposition leader had made a political issue of Labor’s 10 per cent production tax credits for downstream critical minerals producers.

“’Welfare for billionaires’ he’s calling it, and this is from the fellow whose entire party was once funded by Clive Palmer, and his party of course supported Clive Palmer in his lawsuit against Western Australia, and who he is now calling a rent seeker,” Ms King told the mining summit, hosted the Australian Financial Review.

“The hypocrisy is as staggering as it is unbelievable.

“And we should be clear that supporting our critical minerals and rare earths industry is a matter of national security. Their decision to play politics on an important issue of sovereignty is mind-boggling.”

BHP’s Nickel West arm in theory stands to benefit from the production tax credits, but those credits would kick in until 2027.