Nickel Asia hit by weak prices

MANILA, Philippines - Nickel Asia Corp. yesterday announced that its nickel shipments rose 16 percent in the first nine months of the year from the same period last year, but the value of shipments fell six percent because of lower metal prices.

In a statement, the company said its four operating mines sold a total of 9.56 million wet metric tons (WMT) of nickel ore ending Sept. 30, 2012 compared to 8.25 million WMT in the same period last year.

The estimated value of nickel ore shipments, however, declined by six percent to P924 billion from 139.83 billion during the same period last year because of lower nickel prices. The average realized exchange rate for shipments this period was P42.43 per US dollar.

The company’s Rio Tuba mine accounted for 44 percent of total volume shipped during the first three quarters ofthe year. The Rio Tuba mine shipped 1.63 million WMT of saprolite ore and 2.57 million WMT of limonite ore.

The company’s Taganito mine—where the new HPAL nickel processing plant is currently under construction—shipped a total of 1.42 million WMT of saprolite ore and 606 thousand WMT of limonite combined, accounting for 21 percent of the company’s total volume.