Nickel Prices Hampered by Nickel Pig Iron Innovations

The Economic Times reported that technical innovations have pushed the break-even cost for nickel pig iron produced via rotary kiln electric furnace (RKEF) in China down to $12,500 per metric ton, meaning that nickel prices, which are already low, could fall further.

As quoted in the market news:

RKEF technology uses about a third less power than conventional production methods.

‘At the moment, around 30 percent of the whole supply in China is made out of RKEF and that figure is growing so that next year you’ll have 50 percent,’ [Dennis] Zamora[,senior vice president for marketing and strategic planning at Nickel Asia Corp.] said in an interview.

The Philippine company is one of the world’s lowest-cost producers of nickel laterite ore, the low-nickel-content material used in nickel pig iron, 60 percent of which it ships to China.

Click here to read the full report from The Economic Times.