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The company is exploring for nickel deposits on its Langmuir property near Timmins, Ontario; for nickel-gold-copper on its Cleaver and Douglas properties; and for molybdenum and rare earth elements at recently acquired Desrosiers property.

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Message: Nickel soars ahead of index re-jig, tin jumps

Nickel soars ahead of index re-jig, tin jumps

posted on Jan 02, 2009 09:58AM

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/f...

  • Reuters, Friday January 2 2009
* Nickel up 12.8 percent, but rise could be temporary
* Tin up 8.4 percent on fund buying
* Copper firmer, helped by technical buying
(Adds fresh comment/details, changes dateline PVS SYDNEY)
By Julie Crust
LONDON, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Nickel soared almost 13 percent on Friday on buying ahead of annual rebalancing by major commodity indices, while copper firmed and tin jumped more than 8 percent.
Nickel for three-month delivery on the London Metal Exchange rose 2.8 percent to a two-month high of $13,200 a tonne from $11,700 at the previous close. At 1146 GMT, it traded at $13,175 a tonne.
"The rebasing of the commodity indices will have some positive impact," David Wilson, head of base metals research at Societe Generale, said. However, he expects the impact to be temporary given the fall in demand for commodities.
Once a year commodity index compilers recalculate the weightings for the individual commodities in their indexes. The re-jigging early this month will fuel volatility and allow traders to make easy profits in the energy, metals, grains and livestock sectors.
Tin jumped 8.4 percent to a high of $11,600 a tonne, a 2-1/2 week high, on buying by some of the smaller funds and following a positive end-of-year finish for most metals. It closed at $10,700 on Wednesday.
Copper rose to $3,120 a tonne from $3,070 a tonne at the close on Wednesday on short-term technical buying. However copper prices have slumped more than 50 percent in 2008 and inventories rose as the global financial crisis slashed demand.
Inventories for the metal, used in construction and power, in LME warehouses rose 775 tonnes to 340,550, a nearly five-year high.
Further swelling of inventories held by the LME may slow any upside momentum in metals, according to traders.
Aluminium stocks grew 9,400 tonnes to 2.34 million tonnes, the highest level since September 1994.
Three-month aluminium was unchanged at $1,540 a tonne.
Falling oil prices -- U.S. light sweet crude was down $2.81 to $41.79 -- were also curbing 2009 industrial activity expectations, which are directly linked to metals demand.
Metals prices are likely to deteriorate in coming months, with weakening demand dominating the market outlook, Australia & New Zealand Bank chief commodities strategist Mark Pervan said this week.
Pervan, who is forecasting an average copper price of around $3,000 a tonne by the end of March, said he would likely revise that figure down later this month based on the metals' demand outlook.
Zinc rose to $1,241 a tonne from $1,208 a tonne, while lead climbed to $1,020 from a last bid of $999.
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