Western Areas MD urges nickel miners to focus on operations
PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Nickel miner Western Areas MD Dan Lougher has called on the industry to ignore market speculation and “get on with business”.
Speaking at the Paydirt Nickel Conference, in Perth, he said on Thursday that despite the negativity in the market around Indonesia’s ban on laterite exports and the closure of mines in the Philippines, nickel miners had to focus on operations.
“[The news] leaves an audience second guessing what will happen, but if you keep second guessing, you land in strife. Western Areas has taken a position of getting on with business, opening up new mines, finding new mines, doing exploration and cutting costs.”
Western Areas reported a slight decline in nickel-in-concentrate production for the three months to September 30, which reached 5 763 t, compared with the 6 321 t produced in the previous quarter.
Production was affected by lower grades.
However, Lougher pointed out that mine physicals were ahead of expectations, with the operations producing 153 192 t. Mill throughput was also one of the highest quarters on record, at 159 616 t.
A total of 33 829 t of concentrate was delivered for sale during the quarter under review, containing 5 187 t of nickel. The average realised nickel price reached A$6.54/lb, which was a significant improvement of the June price of A$5.44/lb.
Meanwhile, Western Areas has started a formal tender process for its nickel, as both its current offtake agreements with BHP Nickel West and Chinese group Jinchaun are expected to expire at the end of December.
Both contracts have been extended by one month.
However, Lougher noted that the expiry of these contracts represented an opportunity for Western Areas to test the market and demand for its blending concentrate.
The tender process will be completed by the end of the year.
Comments
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation