Nickel Asia ore shipments up 10%

MANILA, Philippines - The nickel ore shipment volume of listed mining firm Nickel Asia rose by 10 percent in the first semester of the year, but fetched a lower value year-on-year because of lower metal prices, the company said in a regulatory filing yesterday.

Nickel Asia said its four operating mines sold a total of 5.54 million wet metric tons (WMT) of nickel ore in the first half of 2013 against 5.02 million in the same period last year.

The shipments for the first six months of the year were valued at P4.14 billion compared to P5.18 billion in the same period last year.

“We remain a low price environment on account of slow worldwide economic growth and a growing supply of processed nickel coming from newly commissioned projects,” said Gerard Brimo, company president and CEO.

“Nevertheless, demand for some of our ore types continued to do well and we are pleased to see continued growth in our shipment volumes,” he added.

The company said it realized an average of $7.54 per pound of payable nickel on 1.97 million WMT of ore in the first semester based on London Metal Exchange prices.

In the same period last year, the company realized LME prices of $8.60 per pound of payable nickel on 1.97 million WMT of ore sold.

The balance of shipments was sold on a negotiated price averaging $20.14 per WMT in the first hald of the year compared to $26.41 per WMT in the same period last year.

The company’s Rio Tuba mine accounted for 53 percent of total shipments during the first semester, shipping 1.07 million WMT of saprolite ore and 1.87 million WMT of limonite ore.

The Taganito mine shipped a total of 675,000 WMT of saprolite ore and 402,000 WMT of limonite ore, including the initial delivery of 32,000 WMT of limonite to the Taganito HPAL plant, which is now undergoing testing and debugging.

The company’s two other operating mines Hinatuan and Cagdianao mines bagan shipments only in March and April, respectively.

The Hinatuan mine shipped a total of 1.33 million WMT of limonite ore and 14,000 WMT of saprolite ore, while the Cagdianao mine shipped a total of 137,000 WMT of limonite ore and 41,000 WMT of saprolite ore.

The company said the commissioning of the new Taganito HPAL plant is proceeding well, with commercial production expected to begin in the fourth quarter of the year.

The plant it expected to operate with a rated capacity of 30,000 tons of contained nickel and 2,600 tons of contained cobalt per year starting 2014.

The Taganito mine will supply all of the limonite ore for the plant.