Toledo Mining Corp: Berong Nickel Mine Production Reduced
February 09 2009 - 2:43AM
Dow Jones News
Toledo Mining Corporation said Monday that for the quarter ended
December 31, 2008, at the Berong Nickel Mine only 16,279 tonnes of
ore was mined and hauled to the coast.
Production was reduced in response to the increasing stock
levels, deteriorating markets and onset of the non-shipping window.
From late October through to February inclusive, laterite ore
shipments are difficult due to the irregularly rough sea conditions
making loading unsafe.
In October, a total of 47,995 wet metric tonnes of nickel
laterite ore was shipped to BHP Billiton in Australia at an average
grade of 1.54% nickel (approximately 492 tonnes contained nickel on
a dry basis) and 34.13% iron.
Approximately 297,000 tonnes of ore was stockpiled at the coast
at the end of December awaiting shipment. Of the stockpiled ore,
approximately 150,000 tonnes meets the BHP Billiton quality
specifications, the remainder being lower in nickel and iron
grade.
Production and shipping volumes for the full year 2008 was
476,850 tonnes (53,000 tonnes less than 2007).
Considering the extreme wet weather conditions during the first
half of 2008 and the state of the Chinese laterite market
throughout the year, operating performance has been good and has
shown continuous improvement quarter on quarter.
The Chinese market for laterite ore declined further during the
quarter and is expected to remain depressed well into 2009. This is
an expected response to the continued depressed LME nickel prices.
Anecdotal evidence suggests more than eight million tonnes of
laterite ore is currently stockpiled at Chinese ports.
The markets for both the blast furnace process and the electric
arc furnace process have been impacted with reports that over 90%
of the production capacity have been shut down.
Imports into China for the last quarter are expected to be less
than 1.5 million tonnes, a large portion of which is low grade
nickel laterite (