Independence Group (IGO) is likely to revise its FY 2020 nickel and copper production guidance upward after its Nova mine exceeded its full-year targets by the end of the first half of the fiscal, ended December 31, 2019.
The Australian miner reported that the Nova mine produced 13,822mt of nickel in H1 2020, in the upper range of its full year guidance of 12,000-14,000mt. The mine produced close to 6,100mt of copper during this period, exceeding the copper production guidance of between 5,000-6,000mt for the whole year.
A total of 358,000mt of ore was mined in Q2 2020 at Nova, of which 2.42pc consisted of mined nickel and around 1pc consisted of mined copper with nickel and copper recovery of 86.8pc and 86.7pc, respectively, remaining flat from the previous quarter.
Sales for copper and nickel concentrates also remained unchanged from Q1 2020, the company reported, with around 519,816mt of nickel concentrate was sold to BHP and Glencore resulting in 4899mt payable nickel. Around 9,000mt of copper was sold to Trafigura resulting in 2,706mt payable copper.
The gold and base metals miner reported a total revenue of $89.34mn from its Nova operations, a slight fall from Q1 2020, due to a drop in LME nickel pricing in Q2. The fluctuation in LME resulted in 19pc drop in nickel pricing during the quarter compared to the previous one.