Repeat of previous post

Japan's Sumitomo Metal Mining Co Ltd (5713.T: Quote), a copper and nickel producer, said it would start commercial production of nickel at its Taganito plant in the Philippines in August 2013, a year later than planned. The company had initially expected to start operations at the 30,000 tonne-a-year nickel plant in 2012. Sumitomo Metal, Japan's top nickel producer, said in a news release that the project will run for 30 years. The company's strength lies in its success with high-pressure acid leach (HPAL) technology, which uses low-grade laterite ores to produce nickel. Previously laterite ores were usually abandoned. Sumitomo Metal aims to achieve total nickel output of 100,000 tonnes in 2013, up from 65,000 tonnes currently. Apart from Taganito, Sumitomo Metal produces 22,000 tonnes of nickel annually using HPAL technology at its Coral Bay plant, also in the Philippines. (Reporting by Yuko Inoue, Miho Yoshikawa; Editing by Joseph Radford)

Posted: Monday , 14 Sep 2009 TOKYO, (Reuters)

DJ Sumitomo Metal Mining: Agree to Philippine Mining Project

Tokyo, Spe 14, 09 (DJones Commodities News via Comtex)

Sumitomo Metal Mining Co, LTD developing nickel mine in Philippines with expected annual outpuit of 30,000 tons. Japanese nonfcerrous metals refiner said the largest supplier in Philiopines, Nickel Asia Copr, will invest 1.3 billion in project located in Taganito Northern part of Mindanao Island.

Matt Chambers September 14, 2009 07:47am

BHP Billiton has quietly abandoned plans for its Perseverance Deeps nickel mine in WA as part of its nickel overhaul that shut Ravensthorpe.

As well as previously announced abandonment of projects such as the Murawai coal mine in Indonesia and Bakhuis bauxite project in Suriname, BHP quietly let Perseverance Deeps and the Cannington expansion slip off the radar. Few will be surprised by the decisions. BHP's nickel business is under pressure and, until recently, was tipped to be on the auction block.
In February, ABN Amro speculated that Cannington could be shut down. BHP chief executive Marius Kloppers last month signalled his commitment to keeping the nickel business, a statement backed up by a decision last week to spend $US150 million ($174m) redesigning the Mt Keith concentrator to better process talc-bearing ore. Mr Kloppers said last month nickel prices were capped by latent supply and the development of pig iron, but that BHP was still committed to nickel. "We believe that the portfolio has been reconfigured as one that we are committed to -- we want to grow in due course," he said. The most notable reconfiguration was the shutdown of the $US2.1 billion Ravensthorpe laterite nickel operation in WA after less than a year of production.

we need NR ASAP to make winters warmer -SG