Tag: BHP Nickel West

AUSTRALIAN nickel producer Western Areas has completed two offtake deals for its WA high-grade Forrestania Nickel Operation concentrate product which is a feedstock for the electric vehicle battery market. The ASX-listed company said the offtake-deals are with BHP’s Nickel West subsidiary in WA, and Hong Kong-listed Chinese nickel company Jinchuan Group, and both were awarded by Western Areas following a competitive tender process. Western Areas managing director Dan Lougher said the company was pleased with its new contracts that extend its relationship with BHP and reintroduces Jinchuan as an offtake customer. “It is notable that both of our offtake customers are involved in the downstream operation of nickel smelters,” he said. “Western Areas firmly believes that the smelting of concentrates…

BY ELIZABETH FABRI ASK any analyst for their best performing commodities of the year, and nickel will be on the list. The base metal is enjoying a stellar year – its price has increased 75 per cent in the last 12 months – as it reinvents itself as a commodity of the future. A new cohort of nickel juniors are advancing exploration in Australia to capitalise on rising prices. At the end of June, nickel was hovering around the $US15,000 per tonne mark; a sizable increase from the $US8931 it was fetching a year prior. And if forecasts are anything to go by, demand for the metal is expected to increase by a further 50 per cent to 3 million…