Nickel demand to increase to 3.13 mln T in 2023, supply to increase to 3.37 mln T – INSG

April 25, 2023April 28, 2023By Reuters #Base Metals #Nickel

Global demand for nickel is expected to increase to 3.13 million tonnes in 2023 versus 2.96 million in 2022, the International Nickel Study Group (INSG) said on Tuesday. At the same time, global output of nickel is expected to increase to 3.37 million tonnes in 2023 versus 3.06 million in 2022, the Lisbon-based group said. (Bengaluru Commodities desk)

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Perturbing electron spins in a magnet usually results in excitations called “spin waves” that ripple through the magnet like waves on a pond that’s been struck by a pebble. In a new study, Rice University physicists and their collaborators have discovered dramatically different excitations called “spin excitons” that can also “ripple” through a nickel-based magnet as a coherent wave. In...

Cobalt Market to Stay Volatile After Record Mine Output in 2022

Cobalt prices have corrected sharply from 2022’s peaks on the back of higher supply and a downturn in demand. Last year, cobalt mine output saw its largest increase ever, jumping 23 percent year-on-year, Darton Commodities says in its 2023 Cobalt Market Review. The Investing News Network recently spoke to Andries Gerbens, physical trader at the firm. “Following a high price...

China Has Sewn Up a Critical Metals Market

“Big Auto and Big Oil have been in a partnership for a hundred years,” said Tim Sahay, a senior policy manager at the Green New Deal Network. “Now the automakers need to form new partnerships with metal companies.” The electric vehicle boom is underway, and U.S. automakers’ efforts have been turbocharged by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). U.S. firms are...

Glencore signs loan agreement for Pacific Nickel’s Kolosori project

Glencore has formalised a funding commitment of up to $22m (SFr19.7m) to support the development of Pacific Nickel Mines’ Kolosori Nickel Project in the Solomon Islands. A related formal loan documentation and an amended sales agreement have been signed with Glencore International. This agreement offers Pacific Nickel a three-year repayment term starting after the first shipment, with no scheduled repayments...

Auxico Resources joint venture partner Central America Nickel details patented extraction technology

Central America Nickel Chairman & CEO Pierre Gauthier joins Natalie Stoberman from the Proactive studio to share how the company has been progressing with the extraction of rare earths with its patented ultrasound extraction technology. Central America Nickel is a Canadian corporation focused on the processing and purification of energy and critical metals using its patented ultrasound extraction technology. C.A.N...

Merdeka Battery jumps on debut as Indonesia’s EV push draws investors

Merdeka Battery Materials (MBMA.JK) surged 11.3% in its stock market debut on Tuesday, becoming the second Indonesian nickel producer in the past week to make a robust start as a publicly listed company. Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s largest economy, has been stepping up its efforts to become a major player in the global electric vehicle (EV) supply chain by tapping its...

Lumina Gold gets favourable study results for Cangrejos gold-copper project in Ecuador

Lumina Gold Corp (TSX-V:LUM, OTCQX:LMGDF) said it has received favourable results from its preliminary feasibility study (PFS) at its wholly-owned Cangrejos gold-copper project in El Oro province, southwest Ecuador. The highlights of the PFS include estimates showing 26-year mine life with a revenue mix of 79% gold, 20% copper and 1% silver, the Vancouver-based company said, adding that the average...

Perenti secures contract extension for Canadian copper/gold mine

Perenti has received a contract to continue providing underground development works at Newcrest Mining’s Red Chris copper/gold mine in north-west British Columbia, Canada. Received through Perenti’s subsidiary Barminco, the contract marks an extension to the initial order signed in 2021 for the development of an underground exploration decline at the Red Chris Project. Work under the initial contract covered mobilisation...

Copper edges higher after strong Chinese growth data

Copper edged higher on Tuesday after data revealed faster than expected economic growth in top consumer China while tin rose for a second day on concern over supply from Myanmar. Benchmark copper CMCU3 on the London Metal Exchange (LME) was up 0.2% at $8,980.50 a tonne by 1056 GMT. The metal used in electrical wiring has fallen from a high...

Rio Tinto begins construction of its new billet casting centre in Quebec

Rio Tinto has begun construction to increase its capacity to cast low-carbon, high-value aluminium billets by 202 000 t at its Alma, Quebec smelter. The existing casting centre will be expanded to include new state-of-the-art equipment such as furnaces, a casting pit, coolers, handling, inspection, sawing and packaging systems. Commissioning is scheduled for the 1H25. The CAN$240 million investment will...

Global Commodities’ Indonesian nickel indices plan may be a game-changer

An exclusive deal that will lead to the development and marketing of indices for Indonesian nickel, signed by UK-based Global Commodities Holdings Limited (GCHL), could change the landscape for referencing nickel prices, industry sources say. Since last March, when the London Metal Exchange (LME) suspended nickel trading for more than a week after prices erupted in a record breaking surge,...

Mining Giant Makes Debut in Indonesia’s Biggest IPO This Year

Metal and mining firm PT Trimegah Bangun Persada advanced in its Jakarta debut after raising 10 trillion rupiah ($672 million) in Indonesia’s largest initial public offering this year. The sale shed light on the growing investor appetite for the country’s electric-vehicle sector. The shares rose 4.4% to 1,305 rupiah on Wednesday. The company, also known as Harita Nickel, offered about...

China’s March copper output jumps 14% on-year – Antaike

China’s copper cathode output in March jumped 14% from a year ago thanks to newly established capacity and sufficient raw materials supply, state-backed research house Antaike said late on Tuesday. Production at 22 smelters surveyed by Antaike, with a total capacity of 11.12 million tonnes, or 926,667 tonnes per month, and accounting for 82% of China’s total capacity, was at...

More than half of aluminium in LME warehouses produced in Russia

The share of Russian aluminium stocks in warehouses registered with the London Metal Exchange (LME) climbed to 53% of the total in March from 46% in February and 41% in January, data on the exchange’s website showed on Tuesday. The world’s oldest exchange and largest market for industrial metals has not banned Russian metals from being traded and stored in...

North Peak signs LOI to acquire Nevada mine complex

North Peak plans to issue eight million of its shares as consideration for the acquisition. Canadian mining company North Peak Resources has signed a non-binding letter of intent (LOI) with Solarljos and Gullsil from Nevada, US, to acquire the Prospect Mountain Mine complex. Located in the Eureka district, Nevada, the Prospect Mountain Mine complex is a 1,700-acre, elevated land with...

Trafigura takes significant copper volumes from LME warehouses

Commodity trader Trafigura has taken delivery of large amounts of copper, much of it produced in Russia, from London Metal Exchange (LME) approved warehouses over recent weeks, two sources with knowledge of the matter said. Falling stocks and expectations of further draws on the LME have helped to limit falls on the copper market triggered by manufacturing data that shows...

Copper prices reach one-week high on US dollar weakness

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) was up 0.59% at $8,852 a tonne Copper prices touched a one-week high on Tuesday as a softer U.S. dollar lent support, although further gains were likely to be capped ahead of key U.S. inflation data. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) was up 0.59% at $8,852 a tonne by...

A new Class 1 nickel miner emerges in WA as Future Battery Minerals posts attractive scoping study for Saints project

Future Battery Minerals will move quickly to a pre-feasibility study on its Saints Nickel Project after a scoping study laid out a pathway for the junior to become one of the few class 1 nickel sulphide suppliers in Tier-1 jurisdiction of Western Australia. The study, released to the ASX today, shows it could cost as little as $8.6 million to...

Alcoa Expands its EcoSource™ Low-Carbon Alumina Brand to Include Non-metallurgical Grade Alumina

Alcoa has announced the expansion of the Company’s EcoSource™ low-carbon alumina brand to now include certain grades of non-metallurgical alumina. First launched in 2020 for smelter-grade applications (SGA), EcoSource is the world’s first and only low-carbon alumina brand. Now, it is also being offered in non-metallurgical (NMA) grades, including hydrates and calcined materials. Hydrates are primarily used in municipal water...

Global copper smelting slumps in March – satellite data

Global copper smelting activity fell in March due to weaker activity in China and the Americas, data from satellite surveillance of metal processing plants showed on Tuesday. The month started strong in China, the world’s top refined copper producer, but a growing number of smelters became inactive, commodities broker Marex and SAVANT said in a statement. Earth-i, which specialises in...

Japan’s ban on aluminium exports to Russia makes no sense

A new package of sanctions adopted by the Japanese government against Russia is due to come into force on 7 April. The measures it envisages include, among other things, a ban on aluminium shipments. To all appearances, the Japanese government expects it to deal a devastating blow to consumption of the winged metal in Russia. In reality, there would hardly...

Sandvik to supply automation solutions for Chilean copper mine

The contract will support Codelco’s aim to automate and digitise the El Teniente mine. Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions has been selected by Chilean copper producer Codelco to supply automation solutions for the El Teniente underground copper mine in Chile. The contract will be delivered in two phases and will run from 2023 through 2027. Under the initial phase, Sandvik...

Russian tycoon Deripaska cleared of contempt of court in London

Russian aluminium tycoon Oleg Deripaska was cleared of contempt of court by London’s High Court on Wednesday in a long-running legal battle with his former business partner. The founder of aluminium giant Rusal (RUAL.MM) was alleged to have breached an undertaking to the court in a lawsuit brought by former Russian finance minister Vladimir Chernukhin over a joint venture to...

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