News

January 15, 2009

Mincor Looks Well Set To Ride Out The Current Weakness In The Nickel Price

By Our Man in Oz

It’s awfully hard to get excited about a nickel mining company at a time when the metal itself is in the doghouse. With Mincor, however, it’s just about possible to make an exception. Not because the Australian miner has a surprise profit in its back pocket, or even because it’s made an exciting discovery. It’s more that Mincor is sticking to its knitting in this downturn, and doing it well. Costs have been cut, but not to the point of hurting the core business: cash is being carefully husbanded, exploration trimmed, but not stopped, possible acquisitions analysed, but without any need to rush things. In other words, Mincor is ticking over and getting set for the inevitable upturn in nickel demand and in the nickel price, at which time it will be one of mining sector’s big winners.

“We’ve warned the market that we’ll not be making a profit in this half”, David Moore, Mincor’s chief executive, says during a chat to Minesite’s Man in Oz that took place earlier this week. It’s a statement that he’s almost keen to make - as if emphasising how tough business conditions are. “The key to everything we’re doing is managing the downturn so that we’re well placed when conditions improve. Key parts of our strategy are to protect operating margins and to protect our balance sheet. We...