Nickel’s Waning Price Boom Leaves BHP With Unwanted Mines – by David Stringer (November 12, 2014)

http://www.bloomberg.com/

The failure to find a buyer for its Australian nickel business has left BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP) with unwanted smelters and pits after the collapse of a price boom.

The metal reached a two-year high on May 13, a day before the world’s biggest miner outlined a plan to sell all or part of the unit. Since then, the price has declined 27 percent. Nickel West, which includes mines, concentrators, the Kalgoorlie smelter and Kwinana refinery, didn’t attract a suitable bid, the company said today in a statement.

While Glencore Plc (GLEN) Chief Executive Officer Ivan Glasenberg said earlier his company planned to examine Nickel West and would be “kicking its tires,” no acceptable offers were made, BHP said.

The biggest miners have found some units more difficult to divest as they trim portfolios amid lower commodity prices. Rio Tinto Group (RIO), the second-largest, halted work last year to try and sell its diamond unit after failing to find a buyer.

BHP said the nickel unit will remain within the company’s main portfolio, after CEO Andrew Mackenzie signaled it wouldn’t be included in a planned spinoff next year of smaller assets. The division doesn’t fit with either BHP’s core businesses, or operations, which will form the proposed new company, he said in August.

A potential buyer would need to invest in developing a nearby deposit, secure concentrate deals to feed smelters and would need to also face uncertainty over potential rehabilitation costs, according to UBS AG.

Question Marks

“There are a lot of question marks,” Sydney-based UBS analyst Jo Battershill said by phone. “We are talking about a set of aged assets with very little upside from the current situation.”

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