Tuesday, March 03, 2009 Is Mirabela Nickel close to a deal?Some...

Tuesday, March 03, 2009

Is Mirabela Nickel close to a deal?

Some market commentators have indicated that debt financing for Mirabela Nickel's (ASX:MBN,TSX:MNB) Santa Rita nickel mine in Brazil could be announced this week. The company had previously indicated that an announcement was due on mezzanine financing more than a week ago. Mirabela is reportedly seeking up to US$200 million in senior debt and may also add an equity placement due to demand from North American resource investors.

The low cash costs per payable pound of nickel at Santa Rita quoted by the company, of US$2.85 per pound, should enable Mirabela to be profitable even at current low nickel prices and points to the attractiveness of the Santa Rita project when nickel mines are being shut down around the world. In addition, the concentrate grade and long mine life are strong selling points relative to other nickel mines and near producers. Mirabela has firm off-take for all concentrate production until end 2014 with Votorantim and Norilsk.

Delays in financing may actually assist Mirabela as it looks to ramp up production in 2010, by which time nickel prices may have rebounded due to reduction in nickel inventories from capacity constraints and slowly increasing nickel demand.

Santa Rita has potentially more nickel than Vale Inco's Voisey’s Bay Ovoid nickel Reserves. Vale is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (Vale) (NYSE:RIO). Interestingly, Vale owns 9.2% of Mirabela.

http://www.proactiveinvestors.com.au/companies/news/943/is-mirabela-nickel-close-to-a-deal-0943.html