QUOTE AND NEWS
Windarra proves promising for Poseidon
Mining Weekly  9 hrs ago  Comment 
A definitive feasibility study (DFS) into ASX-listed Poseidon Nickel’s Windarra project, in Western Australia, has indicated that the project could deliver some 9 600 t/y of nickel in concentrate. Capital cost for the project had been estimated...
Poseidon to reopen Windarra mine
Sydney Morning Herald  12 hrs ago  Comment 
Forrest looks forward to Windarra re-start
WA Business News  Apr 30  Comment 
Forrest on another Poseidon adventure
The Australian  Apr 29  Comment 
ANDREW Forrest's hopes of reviving the historic Windarra nickel project rests on his famed relationship with US debt markets.
National Briefing | Midwest: Illinois: Nickel Fetches $3.1. Million
New York Times  Apr 27  Comment 
A rare century-old nickel that was once mistakenly declared a fake has sold at auction for more than $3.1 million.     
Zimbabwe unlikely to seize mine stakes – Mwana CEO
Mining Weekly  Apr 26  Comment 
LONDON – Fears that Zimbabwe's government will strip foreign mines of half their assets without compensation are unfounded, according to Kalaa Mpinga, chief executive of Mwana, which has gold and nickel operations there. "There is a lot of noise...
Norilsk halts Lake Johnston operations
Mining Weekly  Apr 26  Comment 
Russian nickel major Norilsk has suspended mining at its Lake Johnston operations, in Western Australia, laying off 60 employees. The company said this week that under the current nickel market trend, Norilsk was implementing a policy of...
Norilsk shutters WA nickel plant
The Australian  Apr 25  Comment 
NORILSK, the world's largest nickel producer, has suspended production at its Lake Johnston plant in WA, laying off 60 workers.
Western Areas production remains steady
Mining Weekly  Apr 23  Comment 
Nickel miner Western Areas has increased production slightly during the three months to March, despite the challenging market conditions. The miner on Tuesday reported that nickel production for the quarter under review had increased to 7 146 t,...




RELATED WIKI ARTICLES

Related Articles

more ▼WIKI ANALYSIS
Error creating thumbnail: convert: unable to open image `/home/wikinvest/src_live_2/mediawiki/images/1/15/Commodity.bmp': No such file or directory @ blob.c/OpenBlob/2480. convert: missing an image filename `/home/wikinvest/src_live_2/mediawiki/images/thumb/1/15/Commodity.bmp/40px-Commodity.bmp.png' @ convert.c/ConvertImageCommand/2800.
 This article describes a commodity traded on a commodities exchange. View articles referencing this commodity.
 
TOP CONTRIBUTORS
Sr. Director
Hermann S


Nickel is a metal which is mainly used as an alloying element of stainless steel, major ingredient of brass, and for electroplating. Nickel is also used together with lanthanum in the nickel metal hydrid (NiMH) battery.[1] Nickel is highly resistant to corrosion and is widely used to create corrosion resistant alloys and is also used heavily in the electroplating process. Nickel is used with Chromium to create Nichrome, which has a high melting point and is used for the efficient conversion of electricity to heat. Annual world production was 1.4 million tonnes in 2007.[2]

The chart at left shows continuous front-month futures prices for Nickel traded on the London Metal Exchange.

Metal Exchange

Nickel is traded at the London Metal Exchange (LME).[3]

Nickel Producers

Nickel deposits are classified as either sulfide or laterite deposits. Economical viable laterite deposits are huge but with lower concentration of the ore in comparison with sulfide deposits. The primary ore associated with sulfide deposits is Millerite.[4] Biggest producers are

Key Trends and Forces

Economic Cycles

Nickel prices are reacting significant to over or undersupply of the markets with the metal. Prices peaked at more than 50,000 USD/tonne in March 2007 and subsequently declined to less than 10,000 USD/tonne in February 2009. Unprofitable mines were closed as a consequence and one of those was the new Ravensthorpe laterite mine in Australia (BHP) which was supposed to produce 50,000 tpa after full rampup.[5]

Contents

Emerging Economies

Usage of stainless steel is increasing with the growth of the economies. Average growth rate for stainless steel production in the BRIC countries was 26.3% during the years 2001-2008.[6]

Different Types Of Stainless Steel

High nickel prices initiated a switch to 200-series steels. This type of steels have 3.5-6% nickel content rather than 8-10.5% in 300-series steels.[7]

Substitution By Nickel Pig Iron

A further reaction to the high nickel prices in 2007 was the use of low grade nickel ore to create nickel pig iron as a substitute for refined nickel in China. This process is not sustainable if nickel prices are below 24,000 USD per tonne.[8]

<autowikidata/>

References

  1. ↑ Wikipedia article on Nickel
  2. ↑ International Nickel Study Group - Statistics
  3. ↑ London Metal Exchange (LME) London Metal Exchange - Standard Nickel Hub Page
  4. ↑ Environmental Sustainability Metrics for Nickel Sulphide Versus Nickel Laterite, December 2008
  5. ↑ BHP shelves Ravensthorpe, slashes 1800 jobs, January 2009
  6. ↑ Global Stainless Steel Forecast, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, January 2009
  7. ↑ Substitution of low-nickel stainless steel grades finds momentum, September 2007
  8. ↑ China Raises Nickel Pig Iron Production This Year, Juni 2007
Retrieved from "http://www.wikinvest.com/commodity/Nickel"
Wikinvest © 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012. Use of this site is subject to express Terms of Service, Privacy Policy, and Disclaimer. By continuing past this page, you agree to abide by these terms. Any information provided by Wikinvest, including but not limited to company data, competitors, business analysis, market share, sales revenues and other operating metrics, earnings call analysis, conference call transcripts, industry information, or price targets should not be construed as research, trading tips or recommendations, or investment advice and is provided with no warrants as to its accuracy. Stock market data, including US and International equity symbols, stock quotes, share prices, earnings ratios, and other fundamental data is provided by data partners. Stock market quotes delayed at least 15 minutes for NASDAQ, 20 mins for NYSE and AMEX. Market data by Xignite. See data providers for more details. Company names, products, services and branding cited herein may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. The use of trademarks or service marks of another is not a representation that the other is affiliated with, sponsors, is sponsored by, endorses, or is endorsed by Wikinvest.
Powered by MediaWiki