BHP Billiton has given up trying to sell its struggling Nickel West business, declaring that an acceptable bid could not be found.

After shelving its sale of Nickel West, BHP Billiton will be forced to keep the troubled unit out of its $US15 billion spinoff of unwanted assets amid analyst predictions it would damage the new company's credit rating.

In early Nov., one large FeNi producer in Jiangsu province had cut down 2/3 of the production. According to the source, as the the main reason was the weak FeNi market made the enterprises suffer great pressure.

Russia’s investment and industrial group Vi Holding may pour around US$1.5 billion into building mineral processing facilities in Indonesia, a Russian minister says.

Reuters reported that Indonesia's mines ministry nnounced January to August production and sales data.Coal exports for January until September were 234.76 million tonnes, against production of 310.84 million tonnes.

It was reported that one 2,000,000 tonne per year nickel alloy and stainless steel project will be built in Hukou County, Jiangxi Province, China.

Brazil’s Vale said that a revised nickel mining contract with Indonesia will raise maximum royalties, cut land holdings and require its Indonesian unit to sell another 20% of its shares to local investors.

[Ferro-Alloys.com]The market remains at the downtrend for both the stainless steel industry and alloys industry. The recent dramatic fall brought the price back to March 2014. The 5th MnCrNi & SSteel International Conference was held in Taiyuan on Oct. 17.