Article is courtesy of Livewire. Iron ore threatens US$110/t after Vale guidance dropMincor Resources (ASX:MCR) is rattling the tin for $60 million in a bid to ramp up the development of one of the few new nickel discoveries in Kambalda this century.It has only been a few months since Mincor revived its Kambalda ops in the midst of a rising nickel price and transition of Australia’s historic nickel sulphide mining industry from supplying steelmakers to supplying products for electric vehicle batteries.Mincor, the supplier to BHP’s (ASX:BHP) Kambalda nickel concentrator, has been ramping up exploration to look for nickel tonnes missed by the old timers.And Kambalda continues to deliver new discoveries despite the fact it has produced 1.5Mt+ since it was founded in 1966.The Golden Mile has a high grade ore reserve of 12,500t, which Mincor wants to start development works at in January with an eye to hitting first development ore in the fourth quarter of FY23.$20m will be put towards work at Golden Mile and extensional drilling across its Northern Operations, consisting of the Durkin North and Long mines.Another $15m will be put toward underground exploration and resource definition drilling at the Cassini mine after securing a third underground diamond rig to bring the program forward to late January, enabling drilling at both Golden Mile and Cassini next year.But the cash, comprising a $55m placement and $5m share purchase plan, will also go to providing working capital “providing sufficient headroom to mitigate unforeseen ramp-up delays” as well as close out hedges.Mincor had 3569t left at $21-22,000/t (Australian) at November 30 with BNP Paribas, taken out as part of its financing requirements.Those are now well out of the money. Three month LME Nickel prices fell 5.5% to US$29,725/t overnight, or almost $44,000/t in Aussie terms, double the price of tonnes in the hedge book and 43.4% higher than prices at the end of 2021.
MCR Price at posting:
$1.59 Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Held
