Australias Allegiance starts stocking nickel ore
Australia’s Allegiance Mining N.L. said on Tuesday it had started stockpiling ore from its Avebury nickel mine ahead of commissioning a new mill in the 2007 September quarter.
Allegiance has executed a $1.3 billion sales agreement and partnership with China’s Jinchuan Nickel Group.
The mine, located in Tasmania, holds a reserve of 4.4 million tonnes of ore, grading 1.16 percent nickel, or a contained metal resource of 51,000 tonnes of nickel after processing, according to the company.
World demand for nickel, running at about 1.3 million tonnes a year, has pushed nickel prices to record highs above $37,000 a tonne this week.
Allegiance shares were up more than 6 percent to A$0.70 at 0225 GMT, bucking a downtrend in the wider Australian market , which was down about 0.2 percent. ($1=A$1.27)
Source: Reuters
