Nickel Laterites – Page 49 – Republic of Mining

Boliden, Lundin Said to Weigh Final Bids for First Quantum Mine – by Dinesh Nair and Brett Foley (Bloomberg News – December 17, 2015)

December 18, 2015

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Boliden AB and Lundin Mining Corp. are among companies considering final bids for First Quantum Minerals Ltd.’s Kevitsa mine as the Canadian explorer looks for ways to cut debt, people with knowledge of the matter said.

Kevitsa, one of the largest nickel reserves in Finland, may fetch at least $1 billion in a sale, the people said, asking not to be identified as the negotiations are private. First Quantum expects to receive final bids by early next year, one of the people said.

Mining companies globally are slashing costs and selling assets to counter a drop in commodity prices. First Quantum said in October that it plans to reduce debt by $1 billion through measures such as asset sales, as well as job and capital-spending cuts.

Nickel Producers Hammered in Indonesia as Metal Price Slumps 40% – by Yoga Rusmana (Bloomberg News – December 17, 2015)

December 17, 2015

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Almost two years after Indonesia, the largest producer of mined nickel, banned ore exports to nurture its metals industry, fledgling smelters are being pummeled by a plunge of more than 40 percent in prices.

The chief executive officer of one of the biggest producers, a Chinese-Indonesian venture called Tsingshan Bintangdelapan Group, says with output costs at $10,000 to $11,000 a metric ton, he’s making a $2,000 loss on every ton he ships. While CEO Alexander Barus thinks prices will recover, he says plans for new smelters will be put on hold if rates stay where they are now.

The principal cause of the slump is the slowdown in China, which consumes about half of the world’s nickel used mostly for corrosion-resistance in stainless steel.

Asia’s largest economy is facing the weakest growth in a generation as the country shifts to consumer demand and services as the main driver of expansion.

Too much nickel being produced, analysts warn – by Staff (Sudbury Star/Reuters – December 15, 2015)

December 15, 2015

http://www.thesudburystar.com/

As much as 70 per cent of global nickel output is unprofitable, the chief executive officer Glencore says, amid calls to slash production.

Ivan Glasenberg said that in 2013, the biggest nickel producers “really screwed up” by expanding too fast. The Baar, Switzerland-based company has already cut output in copper, zinc and coal.

In Sudbury, Glencore operates the Nickel Rim and Fraser mines, a mill and a smelter and employs about 1,200 people.

“People are bleeding cash, and when I say bleeding, it’s big cash,” Bloomberg News reported Glasenberg as saying, adding that as much as 70 per cent of global nickel output is unprofitable.

New Caledonia warns of violence over Palmer’s Queensland Nickel – by Paul Garvey (The Australian – December 14, 2015)

December 14, 2015

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/

Clive Palmer was personally warned by the President of New Caledonia that a shutdown of the federal MP’s Townsville nickel refinery would cause “social and political disruption” and even ¬violence in the island nation.

Just days after the Queensland government formally rejected a request to bail out the refinery, sworn affidavits show Mr Palmer met New Caledonia’s Philippe Germain and other political figures last month, with the leaders expressing concerns about the ramifications of a shutdown.

The future of the refinery — which sources most of its nickel ore from New Caledonia — and the jobs of its 767 workers is under a cloud, running at a loss and struggling to meet bills.

The nickel mine that ensnared two tycoons – by Tony Koch (The Australian – December 12, 2015)

December 11, 2015

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/

Several decades ago, a footballer came from the field at the end of the game and said to his coach, “How did I go?’’ The coach famously replied: “Obviously you went crap. If you had done good, you wouldn’t have to ask.’’

The same could apply to certain nouveau riche self-proclaimed “billionaire entrepreneurs’’ who, on close inspection, often possess little more than massive risky bank loans and the private jet status symbol.

It is intriguing in that context to look at the parallel lives of “billionaires’’ Clive Palmer and the late, disgraced Alan Bond, and how the fragility of their bluster was exposed by a relatively insignificant nickel mine and processing plant at Greenvale, 25km north of Townsville in north Queensland.

Glencore may shut Murrin Murrin nickel mine in WA – by Peter Ker (Sydney Morning Herald – December 11, 2015)

December 11, 2015

http://www.smh.com.au/

Swiss miner Glencore says it might close more Australian mines if weak commodity prices persist, with the Murrin Murrin nickel mine in Western Australia the next probable candidate.

Glencore has already shuttered 15 per cent of its Australian coal production and reduced production at its Queensland zinc mines, and the company’s chief executive Ivan Glasenberg has said he was committed to shutting more mines if they were not making money.

Mr Glasenberg said only two mines in Glencore’s global portfolio were not profitable at current prices and Murrin Murrin, which is held in Glencore subsidiary Minara Resources, was one of those.

Glasenberg renews call for lossmakers to shut – by David McKay (MiningMX.com – December 10, 2015)

December 10, 2015

http://www.miningmx.com/

GLENCORE CEO, Ivan Glasenberg, returned to a favourite theme in questions during the firm’s investor update today saying he “… did not understand” why rival miners kept loss-making assets open.

He also raised the prospect that his company would “walk away” from its 49% stake in the Koniambo nickel mine in New Caledonia.

“We inherited the asset [Koniambo] and we have struggled with it since,” said Glasenberg of the nickel operation that was first established by Xstrata, the company with which Glencore merged in 2013.

“But we are not married to it. If the furnace does not work we will walk away from it. We will not burn cash. This is not Glencore’s style and we won’t do it,” he said.

Billionaire Palmer steps up fight with China’s CITIC amid nickel slump (Reuters India – December 4, 2015)

December 4, 2015

http://in.reuters.com/

SYDNEY/MELBOURNE – Dec 4 Officials in Australia’s Queensland state are prepared to step in to help protect jobs at a nickel refinery if needed, but called on its owner, mining magnate and politician Clive Palmer, to be open about the refinery’s financial position.

Concerns resurfaced this week about the future of the Queensland Nickel refinery when a lawyer acting for Palmer sought an advance A$48 million ($35 million) payment in an unrelated dispute, saying the matter needed to he heard that week.

The case against estranged iron ore partner, China’s CITIC Ltd, over any advanced payment of royalties due on the Sino Iron project will now be heard on Monday.

Brazil asks court to uphold closure of Vale Amazon nickel mine – by Jeb Blount (Reuters U.S. – December 2, 2015)

December 3, 2015

http://www.reuters.com/

Dec 2 Brazil’s attorney general has asked the supreme court to uphold the closure of Brazilian mining company Vale SA’s Onça Puma nickel mine for allegedly failing to meet the terms of its environmental license, the prosecutor said on Wednesday.

Attorney General Rodrigo Janot made the request in response to a petition by the state of Pará to reopen the mine, ordered closed in August, on the grounds that the shutdown puts 850 jobs at risk and threatens the region’s economy, according to a statement from his office.

Located in Brazil’s Amazon region, Onça Puma produced 5,900 tonnes of nickel in the third quarter, or 8.2 pct of production at Vale, the world’s largest nickel producer.

Vale’s Onca Puma ferro-nickel plant operates through court-ordered mine closure – by Luc Cohen (Reuters U.S. – December 1, 2015)

December 2, 2015

http://www.reuters.com/

NEW YORK – Dec 1 Brazilian miner Vale is operating a nickel processing plant at the Onca Puma project, an Amazon mine where a court has ordered mining activities halted, the company’s nonferrous metals chief told Reuters on Tuesday.

While the plant continues to process ore into ferro-nickel, Vale has stopped operations at the open pit mine where it obtains the nickel ores, Jennifer Maki, Vale’s head of base metals, said on the sidelines of the annual “Vale Day” event.

Vale, the world’s largest producer of nickel, has said in recent days it is in full compliance with the order to halt mining operations at the key nickel facility.

Nickel’s hiatus may be brief without output cuts, stronger demand – by Pratima Desai (Reuters U.S. – November 27, 2015)

November 27, 2015

http://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, Nov 27 Nickel’s spectacular fall since the middle of last year may have come to a halt, but without significant, enduring output cuts and stronger demand from China’s stainless steel mills the reprieve could be brief.

Benchmark nickel on the London Metal Exchange fell to $8,145 a tonne earlier this week, less than half the level seen in May last year and its lowest since the middle of 2003.

Funds reversing their bets on lower prices on the expectation that Chinese producers may cut output since then pushed prices back up to near $9,000 a tonne.

China’s Nickel Smelters Agree 20% Production Cut for 2016 (Bloomberg News – November 27, 2015)

November 27, 2015

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Nickel smelters in China, the largest producer, plan to cut output next year by at least 20 percent in a bid to shore up prices after the metal plunged to its lowest in 12 years.

Eight producers, including the largest refined metal supplier Jinchuan Group Co. and nickel pig iron maker Tsingshan Holding Group Co., also agreed to cut output next month by 15,000 metric tons, according to a statement circulated by the group on Wechat.

The smelters didn’t say how much of China’s total supply the 20 percent reduction would account for, but their statement suggests cuts of about 120,000 tons next year, according to Celia Wang, general manager at Tianjin Zhongwei Group Co.’s investment department.

UPDATE 1-Nickel smelter developers shelve Indonesia projects amid credit squeeze – by Fergus Jensen (Reuters U.S. – November 18, 2015)

November 19, 2015

http://www.reuters.com/

JAKARTA, Nov 18 Nickel smelter developers are putting projects on hold as they struggle to get financing with metal prices near their lowest in more than a decade, industry and government stakeholders said on Wednesday.

Indonesia was the world’s top exporter of nickel ore until 2014 when it banned shipments in an effort to push miners to develop downstream, or mineral processing, industries.

With abundant reserves of relatively high quality ore investors say there is potential for developing nickel smelters in Indonesia, but the current market is challenging.

Iron Ore Crisis Could Be Followed By A Nickel Crisis For BHP Billiton And Vale – by Tim Treadgold (Forbes Magazine – November 13, 2015)

November 13, 2015

http://www.forbes.com/

The last thing two of the world’s biggest mining companies, BHP Billiton and Vale , need today is speculation that after the disaster at their jointly owned Samarco iron ore mine in Brazil they might also have to close big nickel-mining operations to stem a tide of heavy losses.

That, however, is precisely what has been suggested by research analysts at the investment bank Credit Suisse who have painted a depressing picture of demand for the metal which is largely used to make stainless steel.

Vale, as well as being the world’s biggest iron ore miner is the world’s biggest nickel producer thanks largely to its 2006 takeover of Canada’s Inco.

BHP Billiton is also a big nickel producer via its Australian business unit, Nickel West. The attraction of nickel to both is that buyers are essentially the same, with companies that buy iron ore also buyers of nickel to make stainless steel.

Sherritt widens loss as lower commodity prices weigh – by Henry Lazenby (MiningWeekly.com – October 28, 2015)

October 29, 2015

http://www.miningweekly.com/page/americas-home

TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Diversified miner Sherritt International has increased its net loss by C$158.7-million during the third quarter ended September, as lower prices for nickel, cobalt and oil and gas products weighed on its bottom line.

The Toronto-based firm reported a net loss from continuing operations of C$210-million, or C$0.72 a share, compared with a loss of C$51.3-million, or C$0.17 a share, in the prior-year period.

Excluding special items, the company reported an adjusted loss of C$91.4-million, or C$0.31 a share, missing analyst expectations of a loss of C$0.30 a share, on revenue of C$91.9-million.

Consolidated revenue declined 19% to C$246.5-million for the period, mainly owing to lower nickel and oil prices, which were partly offset by a weaker Canadian dollar relative to the US dollar. The gross working interest (GWI) oil output in Cuba was also lower as oil output from new development wells was not able to offset natural reservoir declines, the company stated.