Nickel market deficits ahead The impact of economic nationalism...

Nickel market deficits ahead The impact of economic nationalism on the nickel price has also changed market dynamics. When the Indonesian ban was imposed nickel rose 45% from February to June revealing how much the market depended on Indonesia’s low grade laterite ore. The ban sent stocks like Sirius running until the early September break in spot iron ore which stopped the rise in its tracks. While nickel is now back below US$8lb the $A price of $19,000 a ton is relatively high for companies with grade and volume like Sirius. Vale, the owner of Inco and the huge Voisey’s Bay nickel deposit has entered the field near the Sirius tenements. Poseidon’s purchase of Norislk’s Black Swan nickel mine and ore body also looks timely. Black Swan has been moth-balled since 2009, but now provides a very low cost plant for Poseidon’s Windarra deposit. The company is nothing if not bullish and quotes Wood McKenzie, the global resources consultant which forecasts that even without the Indonesian ban nickel will be in deficit for a decade.