Australian nickel miner, Nickel Mines Limited plans to complete the acquisition and commission the Angel Nickel project in H2 2021.
The acquisition was split into three stages wherein during the first stage the company acquired 30pc of the project for $210mn in January this year. The second acquisition is split into two stages of 20pc at $137.6mn and 30pc at $210mn, which is expected to be completed by Dec 31 this year.
The project’s construction is on schedule and it will be commissioned upon the completion of the transaction, the miner indicated in its earnings report on Thursday.
However, nickel production at the miner’s RKEF project fell by 5.5pc to 20,210.3mt in H1 2021 from 21,395.2mt in H1 2020 due to lower grades of the metal.
Within the RKEF project, nickel production at the Hengjaya mine dropped by 5.4pc in H1 2021 to 10,073mt from 10,651.9mt in H1 2020. The mine’s nickel output in Q2 2021 inched down to 5,008.1mt compared to 5,064.9mt in Q1 2021. The mine’s NPI production in H1 2021 was 73,739.2mt with 36,927.8mt output in Q2 2021 and 36,811.4mt production in Q1 2021.
Nickel production at the Ranger nickel mine fell by 5.6pc to 10,137.3mt in the first half of the year from 10,743.3mt in H1 2020. In Q2 2021, nickel production at the mine rose to 5,134.8mt compared to 5,002.5mt in Q1 2021. NPI output in H1 2021 was 72,686.6mt with 37,558.7mt produced in Q2 2021 and 35,127.9 produced in Q1 2021.
The company’s revenue in H1 2021 rose by 27pc to $288.7mn from $227.8mn in H1 2020. Its operating profit surged by 72pc in the first half of the year to $88.9mn compared to $51.6mn in the same half in 2020.