Commodity in Focus: Nickel
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…