News

October 20, 2008

Belvedere Resources Takes Sensible Steps In The Face Of Persistent Weakness In The Nickel Price

By Rob Davies

Two years ago nickel was trading at US$50,000 a tonne and the mining world was awash with corporate activity as nickel miners became hot property. Today nickel is worth less than US$12,000 a tonne and forecasts are rapidly being revised. David Pym, chief executive of Belvedere Resources, takes a phlegmatic view of the opinions of experts as he discusses with Minews his reasons for suspending development at the company’s Hitura mine in Finland.

Production at the mine has only just started but at these price levels it’s running at a loss. Suspending development work will, David says, reduce cash cost by about one third. That won’t affect production immediately and it should allow mining to continue for about three to six months and will enable the company to fulfil its commitment of delivering 16,000 tonnes of concentrates to Chinese smelters in the fourth quarter. The 1,300 tonnes of nickel contained in that material will be priced in...