From S T OC K HEAD…”…Poseidon’s Harold, whose company owns one...

From S T OC K HEAD…

”…Poseidon’s Harold, whose company owns one of the few nickel mines in the rich Kalgoorlie-Kambalda region not currently contracted to sell concentrate or ore to BHP’s Nickel West business, says interest has come from near and far for nickel from Black Swan.

“We’re seeing significant interest from the traders, traditional smelting companies and also we’re seeing new entrants to the market being the likes of the OEM car manufacturers,” he said.

“You’ve seen Tesla doing the deal with BHP but we’re also seeing battery manufacturers talking to us too about taking long term contracts. They can’t treat the concentrate but they can act as an intermediary between the smelter and ourselves.

“Everyone is trying to secure nickel units at any stage in the production process. That’s a change that’s new to me and I’ve been selling nickel concentrate for 30 years.”

Harold said Poseidon also had an MoU with Pure Battery Technologies, which is looking to build a precursor plant in Kalgoorlie by 2024.

Having lived through the 2007 boom, when prices hit US$54,000/t and BHP’s Nickel West division generated higher profits than its iron ore mines, Harold believes the combination of EV demand and supply disruptions will support higher nickel prices.

“I think we’re heading into a much higher nickel price environment, where we are today and above,” he said.

“(There could be) supply disruptions which lead to even higher prices a la what happened with iron ore pricing when they had the problems in Brazil with the tailings dams.

“I think we’re heading into one of those environments for nickel, how long it last for I don’t know, but my sense is we are talking about … some years of much higher nickel prices and I think that’s pretty consistent with what the analysts are forecasting.”