- Philippines nickel output is expected to recover in 2019 following years of decline due to production disruptions, boding well for the global outlook for this year
- Australian nickel and cobalt player CleanTeQ has received approval for modifications to its plans for its Sunrise project which will aid the environment and make the project more economical
- Indonesian nickel mining group Silkroad Nickel has entered into a new long-term offtake agreement with PT TBR to supply 15 million tons of nickel ore over a period of 5-8 years
- India’s environmental court says it will issue its judgment next week on whether to allow Vedanta Ltd to re-open its copper smelter in Tamil Nadu, currently shut down over pollution concerns
- Sumitomo Metal Mining: Higher output of primary metals from global suppliers will cut the 2019 nickel market deficit from 93,000 tons to just 49,000, with nickel demand growing by 3.4%
- Zambia’s Minister of Labour: Canada’s First Quantum Minerals plans to lay off more than 1,000 workers at its Kalumbila copper-nickel mine when the Zambian government hikes taxes next month
- CEO of African Battery Metals: Cameroon, an African country on the Gulf of Guinea, has great potential to become a player in the battery metals space with its cobalt and nickel deposits
- China Metallurgical Group Corp has started a project in top steelmaking city Tangshan to produce 40,000 tons of nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) hydroxides per year, plus 20 tons of scandium
- Greece is desperately trying to avert the possible shut-down of Europe’s biggest nickel producer, 55%-state-owned Larco, and looking at ways to ensure its electricity supply
- Head of Cuban state monopoly Cubaniquel Cuba: Cuba’s final nickel-plus-cobalt tonnage for 2018 is around 50,000 tons thus far, with just over 4,000 tons being cobalt specifically
