Nickel value on the rise and a new start for the South plant
Prony Resources New Caledonia will be the new name of the industrial site of the South plant, to succeed Vale. It refers to Prony Bay and the industrial port where the mixed nickel-cobalt product for electric vehicle batteries originate. "Prony ressources" also makes sense with the potential Australian buyer, New Century "Resources".
It was called Goro Nickel at the time of the Canadian miner Inco, then Vale NC since 2006. The plant of the South and its mining area will adopt a brand identified with New Caledonia, a new name for a new start.
Even before the agreement with Vale is finalized, which should happen in the coming weeks, the Caledonian plant's order book is already filled, "for at least for three years". The price of Nickel Hydroxides Cake (NHC), successfully produced by the southern plant, would trade ten points above the official LME price, a well-informed source said on condition of anonymity.
In London, nickel remains above the threshold of 14.000 dollars per tonne, it is outperforming. Indeed, the North American Bureau of Mines and Geosciences reported that global nickel ore production fell 27 percent year-on-year to 8.21 million dry metric tonnes. Supply is falling, surplus is shrinking, nickel is taking advantage. Finally, "the price of stainless steel, of which nickel is an essential ingredient, showed a remarkable recovery this week," concluded the broker Marex Spectron. A positive indicator for SLN, Vale-NC and KNS.
Nickel price at LME on 08/14/2020 at 6:30 p.m. GMT was $ 14.388 per tonne, a 30% rise compared to its lowest point in March.