Nickel Asia shipments down

MANILA, Philippines - Listed miner Nickel Asia Corp. reported yesterday a lower nickel ore shipment volume and value in the first quarter of the year as its two other mines have not yet commenced operations for the year and nickel prices in the world market continue to be low.

In a filing, the firm said it sold a total of 1.74 million wet metric tons (WMT) of nickel ore in the first three months of the year, down slightly from 1.82 million WMT shipped in the same period last year.

As in prior years, shipments made during the quarter came mostly from the Rio Tuba and Taganito mines as the Taganaan and Cagdianao mines usually commence operations in the second quarter.

The aggregate value of shipments in the first quarter of the year amounted to P1.25 billion, down from P1.61 billion in the same period last year due to lower London Metal Exchange (LME) nickel prices.

Shipment of 983,000 WMT of ore made in the first quarter of 2013 fetched an average price of $7.81 per pound of payable nickel against $8.87 per pound of payable nickel in the same period last year based on LME prices.

The company said the balance of shipment for the period were sold on a negotiated price of $22.85 per WMT against a negotiated price of $22.45 per WMT of ore in the same period last year.

The company said it has executed contracts with various customers for the delivery of 12.3 million WMT of saprolite and limonite ore for the whole of 2013.

This is separate from the 5.1 million WMT of limonite ore expected to be delivered to both the Coral Bay processing plant and the new Taganito processing plant that is expected to be operational this year.