Sometimes something big can be right in front of me and I can still miss it. Until now.
BHP's Kalgoorlie Nickel Smelter is just 20km south of Kalgoorlie. It processes nickel concentrate from several mines as far away as 400km, including BHP's Leinster & Mt. Keith and Mincor's Wyloo.
From:
https://www.copyright link/companies/mining/forrest-takes-stake-in-nickel-miner-to-takeover-brink-20221218-p5c784"Wyloo has long seen strategic value in Mincor, which this year revived its Kambalda nickel operations and in doing so facilitated the re-start of the BHP concentrator at Kambalda which had been in care and maintenance since 2018.
Any Forrest-funded takeover of Mincor could create headaches for BHP’s reborn Nickel West division, with the lower impurity Mincor ore seen as an important part of the BHP nickel blend.
Mincor has an off-take agreement in place with BHP but it is not long term and covers only part of production from Mincor’s underground nickel sulphide mines made up of Cassini and its Northern operations.
BHP appears at risk of eventually losing feedstock from several third-party nickel players as it closes in on a $10 billion deal to buy copper producer OZ Minerals."
It'll be surprising if BHP doesn't know about KNP's Ni resources, including Ni sulphide, which is just a stone's throw up the road from the smelter.
If Twiggy does proceed with taking over Mincor, I anticipate that BHP will come knocking on ARL's door to find a replacement NiS supply. Can't get any closer than us, can it?
ARL's polymetallic resources, especially laterite Ni/NiS, and its strategic location in WA is still under-rated by the market.
