News

October 01, 2008

Toledo Mining Is Well Positioned To Ride Out The Storms In The Market, Even With Nickel At Under $16,000 Per Tonne

By Alastair Ford

George Bujtor’s always ready with a smile. You might not think that the chief executive of a company that started out life as a direct shipping nickel operation would have much to smile about at the moment, as nickel sinks ever lower, but there’s more to Toledo than meets the eye.

First, a couple of straight facts. Toledo Mining has around 385 million tonnes of laterite ore under license on Palawan Island in the Philippines. The Chinese market for that ore may have dried up, but BHP Billiton still wants it for its Yabulu refinery in Queensland, the same refinery that takes the ore from Ravensthorpe. BHP Billiton is currently taking around 500,000 tonnes a year from Toledo, and negotiations are ongoing to increase that output to around a million tonnes. Fine and...