Surging gold prices are breathing new life into Western Australia's mostly idle nickel industry, with plans to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on retrofitting three mothballed plants to churn out gold bars instead of the key stainless steel ingredient.It is a reversal of fortune for an industry that, during the nickel boom of the 1960s and 70s, saw gold mines on Kalgoorlie's world-famous Golden Mile shuttered and gold processing plants converted to treat nickel ore. The near-total collapse of WA's nickel industry in 2024, however, coincided with a historic run for the Australian dollar gold price, which has risen from about $4,000 an ounce to burst through $7,000/oz earlier this year. The entrance to the Kalgoorlie Nickel Smelter is decorated with hard hats, personal danger tags and locks from employees who signed off for the last time when it was placed in care and maintenance in late 2024. (ABC Goldfields: Jarrod Lucas)With gold trading at $6,375/oz today, three mothballed nickel concentrators — Black Swan, Cosmic Boy and Lake Johnston — are at various stages of refurbishment as new owners seek to produce gold."Every man and his dog is putting through every stone that's got gold in it, so all the mills are full with the high gold prices," said Grant Haywood, managing director of Kalgoorlie gold miner Maritana Minerals, which owns Black Swan. Gold is WA's second-most valuable commodity behind iron ore. (ABC Goldfields: Jarrod Lucas)Golden days for stateGold's record run has helped boost the coffers of the WA treasury, with income from gold royalties expected to hit $1.1 billion this financial year, second only to iron ore ($8.8 billion).The state's income from gold royalties — a 2.5 per cent share of every ounce produced in WA — is projected to rise again in 2026–27 to $1.3 billion.This promise of riches has spurred emerging gold companies to switch their focus to idled nickel infrastructure to get deposits into production sooner rather than later. Grant Haywood says: "Every man and his dog is putting through every stone that's got gold in it, so all the mills are full …" (ABC Goldfields: Jarrod Lucas)Black Swan, 50 kilometres north-east of Kalgoorlie-Boulder, has been in care and maintenance since 2009 when it was mothballed during the global financial crisis.Maritana Minerals estimates it will cost $101 million to retrofit the plant and is targeting commissioning for the middle of next year."You fast-track your approvals by getting a brownfields site because a lot of the approvals are already in place," Mr Haywood said. "It's probably half the cost of a new plant … a great opportunity to repurpose existing infrastructure and save on capital costs to get things up and running quicker. "It gives you great versatility in the future as well. It's probably a matter of when, not if, the nickel price turns, and you can then use it as a multi-purpose plant, not only producing gold but nickel as well."An aerial view of the Black Swan nickel concentrator near Kalgoorlie. (ABC Goldfields: Jarrod Lucas)Once commissioned, Black Swan is expected to support 60 jobs, while Mr Haywood said another 300 workers would be employed at various mines feeding it. Maritana Minerals has also recently sold the Lake Johnston nickel plant, about 120km west of Norseman, to ASX-listed Forrestania Resources for $35 million in cash and shares. Forrestania Resources has been hauling gold-bearing ore to Westgold Resources' Higginsville processing plant. But it has recently appointed contractors to complete a $58.5 million refurbishment at Lake Johnston, with commissioning targeted for later this year. (From let) Lawsen Landwehr, Grant Haywood and Christian Price at the Black Swan nickel concentrator. (ABC Goldfields: Jarrod Lucas)Ravensthorpe resurgenceSimilar plans are underway at Ravensthorpe, 500km east of Perth on WA's south coast, where gold was first mined 125 years ago. While the town has become better known for lithium and nickel mines in recent years, Medallion Metals has been developing its $138 million Ravensthorpe gold project.A sign points to the Mt Cattlin lithium mine on the outskirts of Ravensthorpe, which entered care and maintenance in July 2025. (ABC Esperance: Tara de Landgrafft)It was one of the first companies to make a move on mothballed nickel infrastructure after entering negotiations to buy the Cosmic Boy nickel concentrator at Forrestania in August 2024. The sale was finally completed in March this year, and Medallion Metals is now progressing plans to complete the plant modifications at Cosmic Boy and start mining at Ravensthorpe, 170km to the south. Managing director Paul Bennett said the first gold pour was targeted for the first half of 2027. "The basic process, crush, grind, flotation, is exactly what's required to treat the Ravensthorpe ore," he said."There's just one additional step that we require, which is to leach the tail out the back end to recover the last 15 to 20 per cent of the gold content, so that's the addition that's going on."