No green lifeline for Australian nickel miners, big producer warns

News Snapshot:

Nickel Industries produced no nickel five years ago. Now, the company is fast approaching 140,000 tonnes a year in Indonesia, which is coming to dominate global supply of the metal needed in stainless steel and battery manufacturing. By comparison, BHP – which employs about 2500 people at its Nickel West operations in Western Australia, and sounded a warning on the dire state of the local industry in December – produced 80,000 tonnes last financial year. Green premium ‘never existed’ Mr Werner said Indonesia had been a huge winner in terms of downstream investment, jobs and wealth creation after banning the...