Factbox: Australia's nickel producers reel from supply glut

Panoramic Resources

17/01/2024 23:53

(Updates with BHP comment on possible writedown)
       MELBOURNE, Jan 18 (Reuters) - A sharp slide in nickel
prices over the past year, driven by a jump in Indonesian
supply, has hit Australian nickel producers, leading to mine
closures, production cuts and writedowns in recent months.
    Australia is the world's fifth biggest producer of mined and
refined nickel, with output led by BHP Group  BHP.AX .
    Following are moves by nickel producers and developers to
cope with the slump:
    
        * BHP, the world's biggest listed miner, said on
Thursday it was 
    reevaluating
     its nickel business. Analysts said it may need to write
down its $1.2 billion West Musgrave project and could
potentially delay it. It will provide more detail at its half
year earnings on Feb 20.
  
        BHP signed a deal to supply nickel to Tesla in 2021. 
    * Canada's First Quantum Minerals  FM.TO  on Monday said it
will cut jobs and production at its Ravensthorpe mine in
Australia due to a "significant" downturn in prices that it
expects to last three years.
    * Panoramic Resources  PAN.AX  went into voluntary
administration in December. On Jan. 8, its administrators said
operations at its Savannah nickel project would be suspended as
the "prospect of achieving a near-term turnaround of operations
and finances is low". The project remains up for sale.
    * Battery materials producer IGO  IGO.AX  flagged in
December it expects to book a further impairment to its Cosmos
nickel project when it reports on Jan. 31, adding to an almost
A$1 billion writedown in the 2023 financial year.
    
   

 (Reporting by Melanie Burton; Editing by Sonali Paul)
 ((melanie.burton@thomsonreuters.com Twitter: @MelanieMetals;
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