Stumpy,I don't know the exact price but it was less than what it...

Stumpy,

I don't know the exact price but it was less than what it is now: there was a heavy downward spike in Ni in late Jul (08) that took Ni down into the high teens. This was around time of Nepean C&M. Ni recovered somewhat for a few weeks and then plummeted, finishing '08 around $10K pt.

I remember reading somewhere that $20K was break even for Nepean. I can't remember where - if I find it I will post it.

(My numbers are in in USD.)

China will be the key for Nepean. Without an unquestionably strong bubble-free Chinese economy and stable Ni price, I'd guess that mgmt will wait. From what I understand, much of the work on shaft refurb, infrastructure, mining permits etc has been done so once the decision has been made the key can be turned quickly. I hear also that during Mines & Money in HK this week(which Focus attended) there was a very bullish presso on resource prices for 2010. I have looked for this ref but M&M website does not post pressos (that I can see).

Sik,

As usual, I have taken your advice. (But my FML to the moon comment wasn't directed at you) As for Ni prices, I take any commentator's forecast for 2010 with a grain of salt. Late 2009, most were guessing at a 10% increase for 2010 but we are over 30% up already. There is a fairly good inverse correlation between Ni prices and LME stockpiles (as you would expect) so I keep an eye on that. To guess at a Ni price by year end, you have to guess at the state of the world economy in general and China in particular. (They do need to put a lot of stainless steel kitchens in all those new Shanghai condos though, don't they?)

http://www.kitcometals.com/charts/nickel_historical.html



Cheers,

C12