- Write by:
-
Thursday, March 4, 2021 - 11:26:18 PM
-
123 Visit
-
Print
Mining News Pro - Nickel prices in London slumped more than 8% on Thursday and prices of the metal in Shanghai dropped the most in nine months after a major deal by Chinese firm Tsingshan eased worries of battery-grade nickel supply shortages.
Benchmark nickel prices were trading at a six-year high as recently as last week on expectations surging demand from the electric-vehicle sector would spur a shortage. Elon Musk said in February that nickel was Tesla’s top concern.
Three-month nickel on the London Metal Exchange dropped as much as 8.5% to $15,945 a tonne, its biggest intraday loss since December 2016, also on the news that Norilsk Nickel expects to stabilize flooding issues at its Oktyabrsky and Taimyrsky mines next week.
The most-traded June nickel contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange ended 6% lower at 130,510 yuan ($20,180.61) a tonne, posting its biggest intraday loss since May 2020.
Tsingshan Holding Group Co., the world’s top stainless steel producer, will soon start supplying nickel matte to Chinese battery material producers and plans to expand its nickel investments in Indonesia. Matte is an intermediate product made from concentrate that can be further processed into battery-grade chemicals.
“Tsingshan’s mass production of nickel matte triggered a supply-side reform. The supply bottleneck for nickel sulphate has been broken. There’s limited room for nickel price to increase,” Huatai Futures said in a note.
Nickel-pig-iron producers can now make nickel matte by slightly adjusting the manufacturing process, Celia Wang, an analyst at Mysteel told Bloomberg.
“This will substantially ease concerns of a shortage of battery materials,” she said.
The drop in nickel prices pushed share prices lower. In Sydney, Nickel Mines Ltd. fell 10% and IGO Ltd. lost almost 8%. In China, Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt Co. slumped 10% and Ganfeng Lithium Co. declined 9.7%.
Short Link:
https://www.miningnewspro.com/En/News/611684/

معدن نیوز -Vale SA has inked a deal to acquire Mitsui & Co’s stake in the Moatize metallurgical and thermal coal mine ...

Mining News Pro - The Mining Association of Canada (MAC) has welcomed several expanded and refined measures proposed in ...

Mining News Pro - Western Areas has picked up production at the Forrestania operation in Western Australia due to the ...

Mining News Pro - British multinational speciality chemicals and sustainable technologies company Johnson Matthey (JM) ...

Mining News Pro - Mining investment firm TechMet, which counts the US government as its largest investor, said on ...

Mining News Pro - At 33, Ng Yu Zhi had all the trappings of a wildly successful trader: a Rolodex full of rich clients, ...

Mining News Pro - Anglo American has signed a deal to run its Quellaveco copper mine in Peru 100% on renewables, ...

Mining News Pro - St George Mining has discovered new high-grade nickel-copper sulphides at the Mt Alexander project in ...

Mining News Pro - Russian metals producer Nornickel said on Tuesday it will boost output of nickel products at its ...
No comments have been posted yet ...