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they have had an off-take agreement with Nickel West before , back when S32 was spun-off ( i remember watching closely trying to work out what BHP was going to do with 'orphan ' Nickel West
( that would have been a game-changer for MCR back then to lose a main customer )
June 2021 quarter highlights
• Conditions precedent for the $55 million Syndicated Facility Agreement (“SFA”) met: o First draw-down not required until early October 2021; and o Mandatory hedge program completed – 4,666 nickel tonnes of forward contracts at an average price of between A$21,000/t and A$22,000/t for the period September 2022 to February 2024
• Continued strong progress with decline and development metres:
o Woodall Decline at Cassini advanced 702 metres during the quarter; and
o Northern Operations (Durkin North and Long) development totalled 933 metres during the quarter
• Massive sulphides intersected at the ‘Golden Mile’ subsequent to quarter-end with an intercept of 0.5m @ 6.3% Ni (including 0.3m @ 8.5% Ni) in the second hole of the new underground drilling program, demonstrating proof-of-concept and opening up a significant opportunity in this untested 1.1km zone
• Sulphides intersected in regional exploration at Location 1, identifying a prospective new channel and demonstrating the potential fertility of this new targeted area
• Subsequent to quarter-end, off-take partner BHP Nickel West announced a landmark nickel supply arrangement with Tesla, highlighting the importance of ‘sustainable’ nickel to the global EV industry
• LTIFR of zero (no change), with two minor incidents for the quarter resulting in a TRIFR of 9.2
• Cash at bank of $58.9 million at quarter-end Commenting on the June 2021 quarter, Mincor’s Managing Director, David Southam, said: “Mincor took major steps during the 2021 financial year towards becoming Australia’s newest nickel sulphide producer, and we are now rapidly closing-in on that objective with first nickel concentrate scheduled for late in the March 2022 quarter.
I’m pleased to say that the Mincor Team collectively delivered on all of our commitments to shareholders during the year, with key highlights including the Board-approved Final Investment Decision in September 2020, achieving financial close of our $55m project financing facility and formally opening the Woodall decline in March and making excellent – and, importantly, safe – progress with development and construction against the backdrop of COVID-19. “We have been successful in attracting significant mining talent to the Company with a systematic build-up of professional staff, particularly over the last six months.
Despite the competitive industry environment, we continue to have a headcount turnover of zero over the last year. “Development of both the Woodall Decline at Cassini and the Durkin Decline and Incline at Northern Operations continued to accelerate with development rates increasing. In addition, project meetings with our off-take partner, BHP Nickel West, have been very positive as they complete necessary maintenance on the Kambalda Nickel Concentrator in readiness for our ore.
Just a few days ago, BHP Nickel West unveiled a landmark nickel supply arrangement with Tesla, showing how important ‘sustainable’ nickel is to the future growth of the EV battery industry. “After awarding the underground drilling contract to Webdrill last quarter, we’ve made a fantastic start to our drilling campaign in the ‘Golden Mile’ between Long and Durkin North. Post quarter-end we announced an outstanding massive sulphide intercept assaying 6.3% nickel in only our second drill-hole, which was quickly followed up by another massive sulphide intersection.
These exciting results demonstrate the enormous opportunity in front of us in this large search space, which has seen no effective drilling for decades. Our regional exploration is also gaining momentum, with a potentially large and fertile channel identified at Location-1 and RC drilling at Republican Hill also returning some encouraging early-stage results, both of which will be followed up in FY22 with their own discrete program.”
2 Nickel Market During the June quarter, the nickel price increased to around US$18,400/tonne, while the AUD/USD exchange rate traded in a range between 0.74 and 0.76. The AUD nickel price finished the quarter at A$24,541/tonne, which is well above the Definitive Feasibility Study assumption of A$22,500/tonne.
=== >> LME nickel stockpiles were significantly drawn down in the quarter, falling around 28,000 nickel tonnes to approximately 232,000 nickel tonnes, which represents around one month of global demand. <<===
as i suspected they were still processing existing stockpiles in June
watching for the next quarterly might be enlightening , but beware of a Cap. Raise if the exploration results keep on looking good
( that would have been a game-changer for MCR back then to lose a main customer )
June 2021 quarter highlights
• Conditions precedent for the $55 million Syndicated Facility Agreement (“SFA”) met: o First draw-down not required until early October 2021; and o Mandatory hedge program completed – 4,666 nickel tonnes of forward contracts at an average price of between A$21,000/t and A$22,000/t for the period September 2022 to February 2024
• Continued strong progress with decline and development metres:
o Woodall Decline at Cassini advanced 702 metres during the quarter; and
o Northern Operations (Durkin North and Long) development totalled 933 metres during the quarter
• Massive sulphides intersected at the ‘Golden Mile’ subsequent to quarter-end with an intercept of 0.5m @ 6.3% Ni (including 0.3m @ 8.5% Ni) in the second hole of the new underground drilling program, demonstrating proof-of-concept and opening up a significant opportunity in this untested 1.1km zone
• Sulphides intersected in regional exploration at Location 1, identifying a prospective new channel and demonstrating the potential fertility of this new targeted area
• Subsequent to quarter-end, off-take partner BHP Nickel West announced a landmark nickel supply arrangement with Tesla, highlighting the importance of ‘sustainable’ nickel to the global EV industry
• LTIFR of zero (no change), with two minor incidents for the quarter resulting in a TRIFR of 9.2
• Cash at bank of $58.9 million at quarter-end Commenting on the June 2021 quarter, Mincor’s Managing Director, David Southam, said: “Mincor took major steps during the 2021 financial year towards becoming Australia’s newest nickel sulphide producer, and we are now rapidly closing-in on that objective with first nickel concentrate scheduled for late in the March 2022 quarter.
I’m pleased to say that the Mincor Team collectively delivered on all of our commitments to shareholders during the year, with key highlights including the Board-approved Final Investment Decision in September 2020, achieving financial close of our $55m project financing facility and formally opening the Woodall decline in March and making excellent – and, importantly, safe – progress with development and construction against the backdrop of COVID-19. “We have been successful in attracting significant mining talent to the Company with a systematic build-up of professional staff, particularly over the last six months.
Despite the competitive industry environment, we continue to have a headcount turnover of zero over the last year. “Development of both the Woodall Decline at Cassini and the Durkin Decline and Incline at Northern Operations continued to accelerate with development rates increasing. In addition, project meetings with our off-take partner, BHP Nickel West, have been very positive as they complete necessary maintenance on the Kambalda Nickel Concentrator in readiness for our ore.
Just a few days ago, BHP Nickel West unveiled a landmark nickel supply arrangement with Tesla, showing how important ‘sustainable’ nickel is to the future growth of the EV battery industry. “After awarding the underground drilling contract to Webdrill last quarter, we’ve made a fantastic start to our drilling campaign in the ‘Golden Mile’ between Long and Durkin North. Post quarter-end we announced an outstanding massive sulphide intercept assaying 6.3% nickel in only our second drill-hole, which was quickly followed up by another massive sulphide intersection.
These exciting results demonstrate the enormous opportunity in front of us in this large search space, which has seen no effective drilling for decades. Our regional exploration is also gaining momentum, with a potentially large and fertile channel identified at Location-1 and RC drilling at Republican Hill also returning some encouraging early-stage results, both of which will be followed up in FY22 with their own discrete program.”
2 Nickel Market During the June quarter, the nickel price increased to around US$18,400/tonne, while the AUD/USD exchange rate traded in a range between 0.74 and 0.76. The AUD nickel price finished the quarter at A$24,541/tonne, which is well above the Definitive Feasibility Study assumption of A$22,500/tonne.
=== >> LME nickel stockpiles were significantly drawn down in the quarter, falling around 28,000 nickel tonnes to approximately 232,000 nickel tonnes, which represents around one month of global demand. <<===
as i suspected they were still processing existing stockpiles in June
watching for the next quarterly might be enlightening , but beware of a Cap. Raise if the exploration results keep on looking good
