Yes it is a very neat summary and I think people investing in AU nickel should really take the time to read it carefully. https://www.mining.com/web/indonesia-and-china-killed-the-nickel-market/
Nova (IGO) - cash cost is just over US$6k per tonne (from ann dated 27/02/2024), so still very profitable but only a few years left. IGO produce nickel concentrate at 18-20% and use a POX (pressure oxidation) plant hence lower costs and higher payability. The 2 big ones that dominate the bottom quartile of the cost curve are Norilsk and Jinchuan ..........
I assume that summary quoted the lowest cash cost producer in Indonesian @ US$5.2k - the concern is that as China invest another $20+ billion dollars into Indonesian Nickel, how many more producers will approach a cash cost of approx US$5.2k. Whilst they passed laws to move away from primary mining (a dig economy), I think they are learning from China about how to control various markets (exert influence) just like China did with REE's .......... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rare_earth_industry_in_China
(20min delay)