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Nickel Laterites

Red seas and no fish: Nickel mining takes its toll on Indonesia’s spice islands – by Rabul Sawal (Mongabay.com – February 16, 2022)

https://news.mongabay.com/

HALMAHERA, Indonesia — Yoksan Jurumudi came home with a long face after spending the whole day looking for fish in the waters off the Obi Islands in Indonesia’s North Maluku province. The fisherman dumped out his catch, but it was only enough to feed his own family. There was nothing left over that could be sold, let alone shared with his extended family.

The days when the fishermen of Obi Island would land a bounty of skipjack tuna have long passed, they say. It now takes them at least three days of fishing, venturing increasingly farther out to sea on their small wooden ketinting canoes, to bring back just 10 kilograms (22 pounds) of tuna.

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Trader Known as ‘Big Shot’ Battles Mystery Nickel Stockpiler – by Alfred Cang (Bloomberg News – February 14, 2022)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — In Chinese commodity circles, he’s known as “big shot” — the man who controls the world’s largest nickel producer and isn’t afraid to place big derivatives bets on where prices are headed next.

Now Xiang Guangda has emerged at the center of a market drama that’s fueling some of the largest price swings in years for a key ingredient in the fight against climate change.

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Nickel market caught up in fresh squeeze – by Mark Burton (Bloomberg News – January 18, 2022)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

The nickel market is facing its biggest squeeze in more than a decade as buyers are forced to pay huge premiums for immediate supplies with exchange inventories plunging.

Cash contracts on the London Metal Exchange reached a $90-a-ton premium to those expiring a day later, the highest since 2010 and nearing levels seen in 2007 during a historic squeeze. It’s more evidence of acute supply stress in metals, following turmoil in copper and tin markets last year.

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China Hurt Most by Indonesia’s Move to Keep Nickel at Home (Bloomberg News – January 13, 2022)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Indonesia’s pledge to be more than a raw-materials supplier is set to pile pressure on China’s steel to electric vehicles industries that are already grappling with rising cost volatility.

The Southeast Asian country said Wednesday it’s studying a progressive levy on exports of nickel pig iron and ferronickel that could be imposed as soon as this year. Concerns about lower shipments from the world’s biggest nickel supplier sent the London Metal Exchange benchmark surging to the highest in more than a decade.

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First Lumber. Then Tin. Now the Newest Squeeze Is in Nickel (Bloomberg News – January 14, 2022)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Nickel rallied to the highest in more than a decade as dwindling exchange inventories leave traders bracing for a historic supply squeeze.

In a sign that traders are scrambling for spot supplies, cash contracts traded at the widest premium to three-month futures since 2007 on the London Metal Exchange on Thursday.

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RACE TO THE FUTURE: Can a Tiny Territory in the South Pacific Power Tesla’s Ambitions? – by Hannah Beech (New York Times – December 30, 2021)

https://www.nytimes.com/

Nickel is vital to electric car batteries, but extracting it is dirty and destructive. A plant with a turbulent history in New Caledonia is about to become an experiment in sustainable mining.

GORO, New Caledonia — From the reef-fringed coast of New Caledonia, the Coral Sea stretches into the South Pacific. Slender native pines, listing like whimsical Christmas trees, punctuate the shoreline.

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New Caledonia rejects independence from France in third vote (Al Jazeera.com – December 2021)

https://www.aljazeera.com/

Residents of the Pacific territory of New Caledonia have voted overwhelmingly to remain part of France in a third referendum that was boycotted by pro-independence groups, local media reported.

Police reinforcements have been sent to the territory known as “the pebble”, which is of strategic importance to France and is part of a wider tussle for influence in the Pacific between Western countries and China.

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How the rise of electric cars endangers the ‘last frontier’ of the Philippines – by Karol Ilagan, Andrew W. Lehren, Anna Schecter and Rich Schapiro (NBC News – December 7, 2021)

https://www.nbcnews.com/

This article was produced in partnership with the Pulitzer Center’s Rainforest Investigations Network and the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism.

PALAWAN, Philippines – Jeminda Bartolome spends her days at the foot of a lush mountain range tending to her rice paddies. A mother of six, she leads a group of farmers and members of the Indigenous Palawan tribe who believe the crop is endowed with a human soul. “That,” she said on a recent afternoon pointing toward her farmland, “is our source of livelihood.”

Bartolome, 56, lives in one of the most biodiverse places on earth, a stunning island that draws legions of tourists to its crystal blue waters and pristine nature reserves. But these days, her livelihood, and the ancient rainforest system it depends on, are increasingly under threat.

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Nickel market tightens as China lifts imports – by Andy Home (Sudbury Star/Reuters – December 7, 2021)

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

LONDON — London Metal Exchange (LME) nickel stocks have been falling relentlessly since April of this year. Exchange inventory has slumped to 110,688 tonnes from 264,606 tonnes over the last six months with almost half of what is left canceled in preparation for physical load-out.

LME time-spreads have been tight since the middle of October. The cash premium hit $190 per tonne last month and was still a wide $141 at Friday’s close. (On Monday, it was selling for a little more than US$9 a pound.)

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Indonesia’s EV dreams at odds with deforestation pledge (Free Malaysia Today – November 16, 2021)

https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/

JAKARTA: Global electric vehicle makers have set their sights on Indonesia, attracted by its abundant reserves of key EV battery ingredient nickel, government backing for the industry and the market potential of the world’s fourth most populous nation.

Such ambitions are on parade at the ongoing Indonesia International Auto Show, on the outskirts of Jakarta. Automakers from China, South Korea and elsewhere are counting on the Indonesian government’s push to increase EV sales, one of the ways in which Jakarta hopes to reduce the country’s CO2 output as it aims for net zero emissions by 2060.

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Battery-grade nickel demand to grow as world sets sights on low-carbon future – by Simone Liedtke (MiningWeekly.com – November 19, 2021)

https://www.miningweekly.com/

The global green transition and electrification of transport has started a paradigm shift in the demand dynamics of metals, which are required for a low-carbon future, and are set to experience a significant boost in demand in the coming decade at least, says research agency Fitch Solutions.

Battery-grade nickel, or Class 1 nickel (which contains more than 99.8% nickel content), used in rechargeable batteries is a major beneficiary, especially as the configuration of lithium/nickel/manganese/cobalt (NMC) oxide batteries used in electric vehicles (EV), is changing, with a shift from a 1:1:1 ratio (meaning nickel, manganese and cobalt were used in the same proportion) to 5:3:2, and then to the latest 8:1:1 (with eight parts nickel to one part of manganese and cobalt each).

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US adds nickel, zinc to draft critical minerals list, drops potash – by Mariaan Webb (MiningWeekly.com – November 2021)

https://www.miningweekly.com/

The US Geological Survey (USGS) has added nickel and zinc to its proposed list of 50 ‘critical minerals’ – defined as those essential to economic or national security and with a supply chain vulnerable to disruption – while four others, including potash, have fallen off the draft 2021 list.

The USGS has released its draft revised list of critical minerals and is allowing public comment until December 9. “The USGS’s critical minerals list provides vital information for industry, policymakers, economists and scientists on the most important minerals when it comes to US supply chains, says Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Water and Science Tanya Trujillo.

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Battery Boom Has Sherritt CEO Betting on Cuban Nickel Expansion – by Stephen Wicary and James Attwood (Bloomberg News – November 5, 2021)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Sherritt International Corp.’s new boss sees the electric-vehicle revolution stretching all the way to Cuba, with the Canadian miner planning to boost output of battery-grade nickel and cobalt.

In its first major move under Chief Executive Officer Leon Binedell, the Toronto-based company wants to increase production at its Moa joint venture in Cuba by 15% to 20% from the 34,876 metric tons produced last year.

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These green economy commodities are beating the best runs of the China supercycle – by David Rosenberg and Marius Jongstra (Financial Post – November 5, 2021)

https://financialpost.com/

The surge in commodity prices has been impressive since mid-2020, predictably resulting in calls that a new “supercycle” is underway. We have questioned that narrative, given the apparent supply-demand imbalances plaguing the globe and boosting prices in the process.

But one theme we do agree with is the long-term secular tailwinds behind a number of commodities required in the transition to a green economy in order to address climate change.

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Sherritt outlines brownfield growth strategy for Moa JV nickel and cobalt operation in Cuba – by Paul Moore (International Mining – November 4, 2021)

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Sherritt International Corporation, a world leader in the mining and hydrometallurgical refining of nickel and cobalt from lateritic ores, has reported its financial results for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2021, and announced it is embarking on an expansion strategy with its Cuban partners to capitalisee on the growing demand for high purity nickel and cobalt being driven by the accelerated adoption of electric vehicles.

The strategy, which will build on the 26-year successful track record of the Moa Joint Venture, centres on growing finished nickel and cobalt production by 15 to 20% per year from the 34,876 t produced in 2020 and extending the life of mine at Moa beyond 2040 through the conversion of mineral resources into reserves using an economic cut-off grade.

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