China NPI Producers Hold Back Sales on Difficulties in Sourcing Supplementary Materials

Northern Philippines is experiencing adverse weather conditions as Tropical Depression Luis moves across Northern Luzon, bringing heavy rainfall, strong winds, and rough seas to affected areas. The system is forecast to remain a tropical depression before weakening into a remnant low by 5 August. For the nickel industry, intermittent heavy rainfall and localized flooding may temporarily disrupt mining operations in northern producing regions, while rough sea conditions could delay ore loading and vessel departures at ports serving Northern Luzon. We will continue to monitor the storm's development and assess any potential impact on mining operations, port activities, and nickel ore shipments.

Indonesia's nickel industry is facing depletion of high-grade laterite resources continues to reduce average ore quality. It is expected that the country's average nickel ore grade will decline by a further 4–5% in 2026. For example, although transactions may be priced as 1.50% Ni ore, the actual delivered ore grade may average only around 1.43–1.44% Ni. Although the decline appears modest, lower ore grades require miners to process significantly more material to produce the same amount of contained nickel, increasing stripping ratios, raising mining costs, and tightening the supply of premium-grade ore for both RKEF and HPAL smelters.

Ardea Resources (ASX: ARL) presented its Kalgoorlie Nickel Project (KNP) at the Diggers & Dealers forum on August 3, citing a resource of 854 Mt at 0.71% Ni and 0.045% Co, or 6.1 Mt contained nickel and 386 kt contained cobalt, which it calls Australia's largest nickel-cobalt resource. The Goongarrie Hub definitive feasibility study is fully funded by Japanese partners Sumitomo Metal Mining and Mitsubishi Corp on an A$98.5m budget; Ardea holds 65% of the Goongarrie JV and the Japanese consortium 35%. Export Finance Australia and US EXIM have issued letters covering potential support of about A$1bn.