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Nickel

Indonesia and China killed the nickel market – by Rich Mills – Ahead of the Herd (Mining.com – March 4, 2024)

https://www.mining.com/

The mantra? Our fossil-fueled based transportation system needs to be 100% electrified, and the switch must be made from oil, gas, and coal-powered power plants to those which run on solar, wind and nuclear energy. If we have any hope of cleaning up the planet, before the point of no return, a massive decarbonization needs to take place.

This has to involve a colossal boost in the production of mined metals, including lithium, graphite, cobalt and nickel for lithium-ion batteries used in EVs, renewable energy grid storage and consumer electronics; copper for electric vehicle motors, charging stations and renewable energy plants; silver for solar panels and EVs.

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‘Data not accurate’: Macquarie’s nickel veteran says rout ending – by Hans van Leeuwen (Australian Financial Review – March 2024)

https://www.afr.com/

London | The nickel turmoil of last year may blow over more quickly than previously expected, according to Macquarie’s 44-year veteran nickel watcher Jim Lennon, as unexpectedly high Chinese demand and potentially slower Indonesian growth rebalance the market.

Mr Lennon has just returned from a visit to China that has triggered a “major change” to Macquarie’s forecasts for nickel – a market in which prices nose-dived by almost 50 per cent last year, and which many analysts still expect to be stuck in the doldrums this year.

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Western miners hope superior ESG credentials can revive their fortunes amid devastating nickel crash – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – March 4, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Nickel was one of the hottest commodities on the planet as recently as 2022. Analysts and mining executives then predicted blue-sky fundamentals for the critical mineral, based on the belief that demand for the electric car battery input would far outstrip global supply.

But after a short-lived trading frenzy drove nickel to a record high in March, 2022, the commodity went into a steep decline. In the last year alone, nickel has tumbled almost 30 per cent to around US$17,500 a tonne.

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Entire Aussie industry on the brink amid China move – by Jamie Seidel (News.com.au – February 29, 2024)

https://www.news.com.au/

The commodity is meant to be the answer to the green revolution but it’s on the brink of collapse and Australia is in the firing line. Analysts believe up to half of the world’s nickel mines are unprofitable at current prices. And those prices are unlikely to change anytime soon. That has profound implications for Australia’s multinational miner, BHP.

While nickel is only a minor component of its overall portfolio, the “Big Australian” had high hopes for the critical mineral’s future. It’s a key ingredient in advanced batteries and high-efficiency electric motors. And both are crucial in the race to limit the impact of CO2-induced climate change.

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Glencore News Release: Raglan opens new mine (February 27, 2024)

NUNAVIK, QC, Feb. 27, 2024 /CNW/ – Raglan Mine is pleased to officially inaugurate Anuri Mine, from its Sivumut mining project, which has been under development for over ten years. This event marks an important milestone in the pursuit of its mining operations in Nunavik and highlights its ongoing commitment to the local communities that welcome its operations.

Anuri is one of the largest mining investments in Quebec in the last decade. It is anticipated that it will lengthen Raglan Mine’s life of operations for at least 20 years.

“We expect that our mining activities, initially forecast to last 25 years, will be significantly extended thanks to the Anuri mine. This is a huge success for our 1,400 employees, our Inuit partners and our business partners,” says Pierre Barette, Vice President.

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Why this miner predicts Europe will demand green nickel – by Hans van Leeuwen (Australian Financial Review – February 26, 2024)

https://www.afr.com/

London | As the nickel market maelstrom engulfs project after project, Perth-based mining CEO Todd Ross is betting his company, ASX-listed Nordic Nickel, can withstand the tempest.

The $17.5 million minnow has two tenements in Finnish Lapland, and is still in the early stages of exploration. Ross expects the market shake-out will eventually carve world demand into two tracks – a “bifurcation” between Chinese and European demand that will ultimately benefit Nordic Nickel.

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Nickel faces existential moment with half of mines unprofitable – by Thomas Biesheuvel (Bloomberg News – February 26, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

Many of the world’s biggest nickel mines are facing an increasingly bleak future as they wake up to an existential threat: a near limitless supply of low-cost metal from Indonesia. With roughly half of all nickel operations unprofitable at recent prices, the bosses of the largest mining companies last week sounded a warning that there was little prospect of a recovery.

The potential collapse of nickel mining from Australia to New Caledonia comes at a time when western governments are scrambling to secure the supply chains needed to decarbonize the global economy. But in an ironic twist, Indonesia’s coal-fired nickel output is pricing out greener metal that’s so far failed to command a market premium.

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Indonesia to wipe out global nickel rivals, warns French miner Eramet chief – by Harry Dempsey and Sarah White (Financial Times – February 24, 2024)

https://www.ft.com/

South-east Asian country’s low-cost production of metal vital to electric cars has made traditional suppliers uncompetitive, says Christel Bories

Indonesia’s low-cost nickel suppliers will wipe out rivals in the next few years, cementing the country as the world’s dominant producer of the metal vital to electric car batteries, the head of French miner Eramet has warned.

The south-east Asian nation could end up accounting for more than three-quarters of the world’s highest class of pure nickel in five years from now, Christel Bories told the Financial Times, with radical consequences for competitors elsewhere.

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Why there’s no silver bullet for the nickel pickle facing the Albanese government – by Rhiannon Shine (Australian Broadcasting Corporation – February 22, 2024)

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

When miners first struck nickel in Western Australia’s dusty outback in the late 1960s, it kickstarted a rollercoaster ride that brought the likes of Harold Holt and Andrew Forrest to town. So exciting was the revelation of nickel in Kambalda, 60 kilometres south of Kalgoorlie, the prime minister came to town to join the party.

“It is an important national asset,” Mr Holt declared from the Goldfields mine site in 1967.Today it is seen as not only important but critical – due to its use in the batteries needed for the global energy transition.Two years ago, the price of nickel reached a dizzying height of around $76,000 (US$50,000) per tonne.

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Australia gives nickel a quick fix, but surgery of global industry needed – by Clyde Russell (Reuters – February 19, 2024)

https://www.reuters.com/

LAUNCESTON, Australia, Feb 19 (Reuters) – Australia is throwing a lifeline to its under pressure nickel mining sector, but the solution on offer is more of a band aid than the needed major surgery, the carving of the global nickel industry into green and dirty.

Resources Minister Madeleine King placed nickel on the critical minerals list, a move that allows the industry to access some of the A$4 billion ($2.7 billion) of federal government funding aimed at promoting minerals vital to energy transition.

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‘Time for courageous, big-thinking policy’, says nickel miner – by Brad Thompson (Australian Financial Review – February 17, 2024)

https://www.afr.com/

Andrew Forrest-owned nickel miner Wyloo says “courageous, big-thinking policy” is needed to save the industry in Australia. Wyloo is pushing hard for big tax breaks and other action beyond belated relief measures announced by the Albanese and WA governments on Friday.

Perth-headquartered Wyloo and other big players in nickel and lithium are maintaining calls for a production tax credit of at least 10 per cent to reduce costs and spur investment in downstream processing of battery and strategically important minerals.

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Plans to build mineral processing plants in Timmins by 2027 ‘a bit of a stretch,’ says expert – by Aya Dufour (CBC News Sudbury – February 9, 2024)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/

Canada Nickel announced plans Thursday to build ‘biggest nickel processing facility in America’

Laurentian University professor Jean-Charles Cachon isn’t convinced Canada Nickel will succeed in its plans to build two new processing facilities and begin production by 2027.

“The company has yet to produce any profits,” he said. “At this point in time it is a small company that has expenses related to exploration.” Canada Nickel is currently advancing the Crawford nickel project, a proposed open-pit nickel-cobalt mine located some 43 kilometres north of Timmins, Ont.

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Canada Nickel Co. introduces plans for new processing facilities, but funding remains uncertain – by Matthew McClearn (Globe and Mail – February 9, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Canada Nickel Company Inc. announced plans Thursday to build two large processing facilities near Timmins, Ont., whose output would be directed partly to North America’s rapidly growing market for electric vehicles.

The company said its wholly owned subsidiary, NetZero Metals Inc., intends to build a nickel-processing facility it described as North America’s largest, as well as a stainless-steel and alloy plant it said would be Canada’s biggest.

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BHP ramps up cost-cutting as axe hangs over thousands of nickel jobs – by Brad Thompson (Australian Financial Review – February 11, 2024)

https://www.afr.com/

BHP has told suppliers and workers at its West Australian nickel operations that it needs to cut costs for the business to have any chance of surviving the nickel rout that has claimed mines run by IGO and Andrew Forrest’s Wyloo.

Chief executive Mike Henry and the BHP board face tough calls on Nickel West amid estimates the business is losing up to $50 million a month at current nickel prices. Nickel miners, including Nickel West boss Jessica Farrell, met WA Premier Roger Cook on Friday as part of work by his government to refresh its critical minerals strategy in light of the downturn in nickel, lithium and other green metals.

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Canada Nickel looking to build two processing facilities in Timmins – by Maija Hoggett (Northern Ontario Business – February 8, 2024)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Toronto mine developer looks to break ground on zero-emission project in mid-2025

A Toronto nickel company is seeking to position Timmins as a global source of clean critical minerals. Timmins MPP George Pirie, the provincial minister of mines, was in town Feb. 8 for Canada Nickel’s announcement that it’s developing two processing facilities — one for nickel and another for stainless-steel and alloy production.

The facilities would be the downstream processing element for its proposed Crawford open-pit nickel mine.When complete, Canada Nickel CEO Mark Selby said the nickel processing facility will be the largest in North America, while the stainless-steel and alloy production will be the largest in Canada.

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