Sumitomo Corporation: Ambatovy Nickel Mine will resume operation next year. Nickel production in the first quarter will reach 3, 000 tons.

SMM11, March 9: recently, Sumitomo (Sumitomo Corp) said it plans to resume operations at the Ambatovy nickel mine in Madagascar early next year, after halting their production in March to prevent the spread of coronavirus. the current target is to produce 3000 tons of nickel in the January-March quarter. Hiroyuki Sugai, the company's chief financial officer, said at a news conference that Sumitomo may make additional write-downs on the project based on metal prices and the production plans under review.

'We maintain our full-year forecast because of the uncertainty of the epidemic and we plan to book additional one-time losses in the second half of the year,'he said. Sumitomo, which plans to resume operations at Ambatovy early next year as planned, has recorded an impairment loss of 55 billion yen on its 54 per cent stake in Madagascar's Ambatovie nickel mine between April and June.