Nickel Boner Update, page-336

Have to agree with Blowie on this one. That's how business is done in the Philippines. Not to be relied upon at all... Say one thing and do another. Bribe and corruption is rampant.

Also the Philippine Ore is of low grade and mostly shipped to China to be used in Nickel Pig Iron (NPI). NPI is a low grade ferronickel invented in China as a cheaper alternative to pure Nickel for the production of stainless steel. China is clamping down on NPI smelters as they are highly pollutant and toxic to the environment.

Unless the Philippines make a move like Indonesia and start to refine their ore locally it will not impact the demand expected from the battery revolution. Batteries require high grade Nickel.

As Red advised unless they plan to process high grade Nickel their low grade ore will not be required. It took Indonesia 2-3 years to develop their high grade processing facilities and also faced large infrastructure issues such as electricity supply to power the plants. I would expect the Philippines to have the same problems if they were to follow Indonesia's lead.

I am more interested in the amount of Nickel projects sitting idle like POS. Ready to come online or ramp up production with any increase in the Nickel price making them economical. That is why I feel any increase in demand that reduces the global stock levels and any increases in price will be met with a healthy supply of mines coming online. I see a sideways price action occurring at a slightly higher price than present.

For POS, we have an off-take agreement in place with Tsingshan for high grade Nickel ore shipped straight from our Silver Swan mine. Silver Swan historically has the highest grade Nickel ever found in excess of 12% and due to a new process developed by Tsingshan it will not need to be processed before shipping. It is claimed that Silver Swan has a low cost of production and should be viable at around US$5.00/lb. Well... we are there now, how much longer do we wait?

So, if we tie up our processing plants with tolling ore for other companies to get a cash flow happening, then get Silver Swan back in action without the need for our processing plants. We are looking at a very good re-start situation for POS during the next 12-18 months.

I feel this is a very realistic scenario and would like to hear estimates from readers on a re-rate for POS share price? Surely if a signed tolling deal is worth lets say around 6c to the share price then how about a restart of Silver Swan?

Two things need to happen... Nickel price sustaining or continuing to rise, and management to take action!