Business
Conic Metals Releases Ramu Mine Q3 2020 Performance
TORONTO / Nov 02, 2020 / Business Wire / Conic Metals Corp. (“Conic” or the “Company”) (TSXV: NKL) is pleased to provide operating results for the quarter endin
About this update from Nickel 28 Capital Corp
[{"type":"text","content":"TORONTO / Nov 02, 2020 / Business Wire / Conic Metals Corp. (“Conic” or the “Company”) (TSXV: NKL) is pleased to provide operating results for the quarter ending September 30, 2020 of the Company’s largest asset, being the Ramu Nickel-Cobalt (“Ramu”) integrated operation in Papua New Guinea. Conic currently holds an 8.56% joint-venture interest in the Ramu operation. Ramu is operated by the Metallurgical Corporation of China which, along with its partners, owns an 85.0% interest in Ramu. “Conic is pleased to announce Ramu’s Q3 operating results have not been negatively impacted by the global pandemic and in fact Q3 represented one of our best production quarters,” stated Justin Cochrane, President and CEO. “Nickel production was 8% higher in the quarter compared to Q3 2019 and year to date is 2% higher in comparison to the same period in 2019. Ramu is on track to meet guidance of 32,000-33,000 of nickel production in 2020. Although shipments in the quarter were negatively impacted by the pandemic, we expect sales to rebound in Q4 and into 2021 as the world economy emerges from COVID 19. We are already seeing increased demand for nickel in batteries and the LME nickel price has improved from $5.54 per pound in Q2 to an average of $6.47 per pound in Q3. As global electric vehicle (EV) penetration continues to gain traction, we expect nickel suitable for lithium ion battery production will become supply constrained. Our internal estimates suggest that as much as 120,000 tonnes of nickel will be consumed by the rechargeable battery industry in 2020, higher than original forecasts despite the impacts of COVID 19. We also calculate that only 400,000 tonnes of refined nickel from the global market of 2.4 million tonnes is suitable for battery manufacturing. The projects that are slated to produce battery suitable nickel continue to face delays in commissioning which we expect will add to supply pressures in the future. Conic and Ramu remain very well positioned to meet battery producer’s requirements for the long term.” Actual cash costs for Q3 were $1.84 per pound of nickel produced and for the nine months ending September 30, 2020 were $2.02 per pound of nickel produced, net of byproduct credits. According to Wood Mackenzie, the lowest quartile of C1 Cash Cost(A) of nickel production is forecast to be $3.11 per pound in 2020. C1 Cash...