Whats the opinion about the BHP Ni assets in WA? In particular the potential closure. Obviously the low Ni prices and flood of Indonesian sourced supply and Wyloo's closures seemed to have forced the issue. Will be interesting to see
I think in this case the decision is the correct onoe, I think BHP should be prepared to completely switch off its Ni assets in WA for a period of 1-5 years and possibly even 10 years as it will take a fair while for the oversupply to work through the market. The only other saving grace is that other commodities like gas/oil, gold, iron ore and maybe lithium are still doing ok to absorb the WA workforce and extra labour capacity.
The only way I can see this changing is a major weather/environmental event in Indonesia that will force the Indonesian government to respond to local Indonesian concerns. Its the unpredictable nature of this black swan event that makes it difficult to plan a C&M time frame. Basically planning for an Indonesian/Chinese catstrophe or political event to rescue the price of nickel.
The only other option is relying on state subsidies to stay in business, and/or staying in business and hoping that some other high cost Ni producers switch themselves off before you have to.
A personalised tool to help users track selected stocks. Delivering real-time notifications on price updates, announcements, and performance stats on each to help make informed investment decisions.
(20min delay)