Nickel Laterites – Page 9 – Republic of Mining

Wyloo, Chalice, BHP sound alarm over Biden’s Jakarta nickel deal – Brad Thompson (Australian Financail Review – October 30, 2023)

October 30, 2023

https://www.afr.com/

Some of Australia’s largest nickel producers are increasingly concerned that the Biden administration will allow their big Indonesian rivals access to incentives under the Inflation Reduction Act – a huge subsidy to encourage the transition to clean energy – as early as next month.

Luca Giacovazzi, the chief executive of the Forrest family’s Wyloo Metals, has warned that any agreement that made Indonesian nickel companies eligible for the funding package would make it hard to justify investment in Australia and Canada because of the higher costs of production.

Want to Buy an Electric Vehicle? Well, You Might Not be Able to If North America Has No Nickel – by Spencer Hulse (Grit Daily – October 30, 2023)

October 30, 2023

Startup News Online

The adoption and growth of electric vehicles (EVs) is accelerating at an unprecedented pace, but there’s a catch — nickel. The metal, essential for the lithium batteries that power the future of transportation, is at risk of running short.

There is a bigger issue at stake than simply not having enough of the vital metal. Ironically, while the EV movement is greener and more sustainable, if North America does not ramp up its nickel production, it might continue to lean on coal-powered Indonesian nickel, a less eco-friendly alternative.

Indonesia’s high-grade nickel ore reserves may be depleted in 6 years – by Polina Devitt and Fransiska Nangoy (Reuters – October 27, 2023)

October 27, 2023

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON/JAKARTA, Oct 27 (Reuters) – Reserves of high-grade nickel ore in top producer Indonesia may be depleted in around six years, a miners’ association has warned, risking shortages of the material used to make stainless steel.

Indonesia’s high-grade 1.7% nickel ore is mainly used for the country’s nickel pig iron (NPI) production, a feedstock for stainless steel, while lower grade is used to make products for the electric vehicles batteries.

Brazzaville Summit of the Three Basins needs to find ways to protect world’s tropical forests – by Vibha Varshney (Down To Earth.org – October 25, 2023)

October 26, 2023

https://www.downtoearth.org.in/

Tropical forests face threat from fossil fuel, mining and extractive industry expansion

As delegates of the Summit of the Three Basins congregate in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo to strengthen South-South governance for three ecosystems — Amazon, Congo, Borneo-Mekong and Southeast Asia — a global report showed that large parts of tropical forests in these areas remain threatened by fossil fuel, mining and extractive industry expansion.

The Three Basins Threat Report: Fossil Fuel, Mining, and Industrial Expansion Threats to Forests and Communities put together by the research and advocacy group Earth Insight and other non-profits, documents the challenges that the world’s remaining tropical forest basins face.

Battery metal prices driven down by slowing Chinese EV demand – by Harry Dempsey (Financial Post/Financial Times (October 18, 2023)

October 24, 2023

https://financialpost.com/

Lithium, cobalt and nickel prices tumble as ‘irrational exuberance’ wears off and surge in supply hits markets

Prices for key battery materials such as lithium, cobalt and nickel have sharply fallen this year as electric-vehicle sales in China cool off and a surge in supply hits the market.

Since the start of the year, lithium prices have fallen almost 70 per cent and nickel prices have dropped by 40 per cent, while the cobalt market is in a glut with prices hovering slightly above record lows, according to data from Benchmark Mineral Intelligence Ltd., Refinitiv Ltd. and Argus Media Ltd.

‘What’s the point of a boat if there are no fish?’ – by Hellena Souisa (Australian Broadcasting Corporation – October 21, 2023)

October 24, 2023

https://www.abc.net.au/

“The company” — a sprawling nickel industrial area better known as the Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park (IMIP) — is a site of national strategic importance to Indonesia and one of the first minerals processing mega-developments that has enabled the country to emerge as the biggest refiner of nickel in the world.

Built with billions of dollars of mostly Chinese money over the last decade, IMIP in Central Sulawesi now spans more than 20 square kilometres with infrastructure including an airport, seaport, and worker accommodation that supports 52 enterprises. IMIP primarily processes nickel ore for stainless steel but now is increasingly producing higher-grade nickel for electric vehicle (EV) batteries.

INSG forecasts a third consecutive year of nickel surplus – by Andy Home (Reuters – October 5, 2023)

October 5, 2023

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, Oct 5 (Reuters) – Global nickel production will outpace demand to the tune of 239,000 metric tons next year, according to the International Nickel Study Group (INSG). It will be the third consecutive year of excess supply and the surplus will be the largest yet.

The INSG, which held the second of its twice-yearly meetings in Lisbon this week, estimates the market was in a 104,000-metric ton surplus last year with the figure set to rise to 223,000 metric tons this year.

BHP braces for Indonesian supply surge as nickel hits two-year low – by Peter Ker (Australian Financial Review – October 5, 2023)

October 5, 2023October 5, 2023

https://www.afr.com/

BHP says electric vehicle manufacturers are not yet willing to pay a “green premium” to recognise the sustainability credentials of nickel mined in Australia, at a time when surprisingly large volumes of Indonesian nickel have dragged down prices for the metal to a two-year low.

BHP’s chief development officer Johan van Jaarsveld said the company would maintain a policy of only investing in the sort of “sulphide” nickel geology that occurs in Australia and Canada, but was bracing for more nickel supply growth from Indonesian miners working in “laterite” geology.

Facing increasing pressure from customers, some miners are switching to renewable energy – by Victoria Milko and Dita Alangkara (Associated Press/Washington Post – October 1, 2023)

October 3, 2023

https://www.washingtonpost.com/

SOROWAKO, Indonesia — Red hot sparks fly through the air as a worker in a heat-resistant suit pokes a long metal rod into a nickel smelter, coaxing the molten metal from a crucible at a processing facility on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.

The smelter run by global mining firm Vale and powered by electricity from three dams churns out 75,000 tons of nickel a year for use in batteries, electric vehicles, appliances and many other products.

Glencore to stop funding New Caledonia nickel mine as Indonesian supply surges – by Harry Dempsey and Leila Abboud (Financial Times – September 27, 2023)

September 27, 2023

https://www.ft.com/

Local industry extracting a key metal for electric car batteries is under pressure from rising production elsewhere

Mining and trading giant Glencore is to stop financing a lossmaking nickel mine in New Caledonia, as growing Indonesian production of a key metal in electric car batteries squeezes rivals.

Closure of the mine would be a blow to the French territory’s economy — mining accounts for 6 per cent of its GDP — and further concentrate global nickel production in Indonesia, where the supply chain is largely controlled by Chinese companies.

Top Philippine Nickel Miners May Spend $2 Billion in New Plants – by Cliff Venzon (Bloomberg News – September 21, 2023)

September 21, 2023

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — The Philippines’ two biggest nickel producers are planning to invest about $1 billion each to build processing plants, the companies’ top executives said, boosting the government’s push to develop the Southeast Asian nation’s downstream mineral industry.

Nickel Asia Corp. is eyeing a third high-pressure acid leaching plant near a mining project in Pujada peninsula in southern Davao Oriental province where it is in “final negotiations” to acquire the rights to operate it, President and Chief Executive Officer Martin Antonio Zamora said in an interview on Wednesday on the sidelines of a mining conference in Manila.

Indonesia proposes critical minerals trade deal with US (Reuters – September 7, 2023)

September 7, 2023

https://www.reuters.com/

JAKARTA, Sept 7 (Reuters) – Indonesia has asked the United States to begin talks on a trade deal for critical minerals so that exports from the Southeast Asian country can be covered under the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act, an Indonesian ministry said on Thursday.

The request was made when Indonesian President Joko Widodo met with U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris on the sidelines of meetings hosted by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Jakarta on Wednesday.

OPINION: At mining company Sherritt, any executive pay may be too much – by David Milstead (Globe and Mail – September 1,2023)

September 5, 2023

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

At first blush, there seems not to be much to say about executive compensation at Sherritt International Corp. A million bucks here and there, positive feedback from proxy-advisory services, solid shareholder support for the compensation approach in its “say on pay” vote.

The problem, though, is that if you’re a long-suffering stockholder of the miner of nickel and cobalt, you may wonder why anyone there is getting paid anything at all. At the very least, the pay at Sherritt illustrates the problem with trying to match up “long-term” incentive pay to the truly long-term shareholder experience.

Angry Philippine islanders are trying to stop the great nickel rush – Nick Aspinwall (Rest of World.org – August 30, 2023)

August 31, 2023

https://restofworld.org/

“It’s very ironic that, in order to mitigate the impact of global warming, you have to cut down our trees … just to support the initiatives of Elon Musk.”

The small, crescent-shaped island of Sibuyan sits at the dead center of the Philippine archipelago. Venturing there from Manila is a 15-hour journey by bus and ferry, which keeps most vacationers away from its glistening sandbars and unspoiled old-growth forests.

The water from all its 36 rivers and streams is drinkable, locals say; it has never been connected to any other landmass, preserving unique plant and animal life. Natural scientists have called it the “Galapagos of Asia.”

Indonesian nickel smelters turn to Philippines for ore as local supply tightens – by Mai Nguyen and Siyi Liu (Reuters – August 30, 2023)

August 31, 2023

https://www.reuters.com/

Aug 30 (Reuters) – Nickel smelters in top producer Indonesia are making rare purchases of ore from the Philippines to ease tight supplies, people familiar with the matter said, upending trade flows of the raw material and pushing up costs across the supply chain.

Jakarta recently delayed the issuing of mining quotas and suspended operations at a key site of state miner Aneka Tambang (ANTM.JK) (Antam) after an investigation into corrupt practices in issuing mining allowances.