Nickel miner Western Areas has told bidders for its product that it would prefer a customer who can help it develop new mines, as the race for a looming supply contract heats up.

The nickel market enjoyed a bull run in the first quarter of this year following the Indonesian government’s hefty export tax on nickel ore exports resulting in a defacto ban. Overnight almost a third of global supply disappeared from the market and although ...

In a trenchant piece for Trading Floor Adam Courtenay argues that with all the focus being placed on BHP's spinoff of what it now considers non-core operations, the Australian industry is losing sight of much more fundamental issues:

Indonesia has no plans to wind back a seven-month old ban on exports of unprocessed nickel ore and bauxite that has led to billions of dollars in planned investments in smelters, top government officials said.

South Korean steel giant Posco announced to cut its domestic prices for austenitic stainless coils by 100,000 won/ton for August due to weak market conditions during summer holiday, in spite of higher nickel prices.

After over six-month of heated debate over restrictions on mineral exports imposed by Indonesia in January, the newly elected government is offering mining companies in some tax cuts ton settle the dispute.

Fitch also raised Norilsk Nickel’s short-term foreign currency IDR to F3 from B and senior unsecured foreign currency rating to BBB-from BB+.

The Company’s four operating mines sold an aggregate 7.73 million wet metric tons (WMT) of nickel ore in the irst half of 2014 as compared to 5.54 million WMT in the same period last year, or an increase of 40%.The ...