Western Australia's nickel miners believe the industry has hit rock bottom and will be buoyed by a surge in demand by the end of the decade. But as weakness in the nickel price persists, producers and mine developers might be in for some more pain until a full recovery gets underway.

The heads of three major nickel companies told a conference in Perth this week that nickel shortages were expected to boost the metal's price between 2015 and 2019, as production dries up and Chinese demand increases.

Mr David Singleton CEO of Poseidon said that the sector had been on its knees in recent years, but that was about to change. We've probably seen the worst of it. However, it is difficult to pinpoint exactly when the recovery would arrive.

Mr Singleton said that the completion of two recent offshore deals would soon take 33,000 tonnes of nickel out of the market and significantly reduce the annual global surplus of around 60,000 tonnes to 80,000 tonnes.

He said that "You only need a 50,000 tonne project like Ravensthorpe to close, then Indonesia to pull back on exports, and all of a sudden we'll be in a raging different market."

• [Editor:editor]