By Leia Michele Toovey- Exclusive to Nickel Investing News

This week, the base metals have remained range bound, waiting for cues from OPEC Decision, and the conclusion for the proposed auto bailout.

After the Federal Reserve issued yet another rate cut that sent the dollar reeling, the base metals were steady. On India’s Multi Commodities Exchange (MCX), Nickel December 2008 contract opened at Rs 475.90 per kg as compared to its earlier closing of Rs 481, tossed in the range of Rs 467.10-485.90 and was last traded at Rs 475.90, down 1.06 per cent. Nickel January, 2009 contract opened at Rs 487 per kg as compared to its previous closing of Rs 494.80. Nickel February 2009 contract fell 5.01 per cent at Rs 498.70 per kg as compared to its previous closing of Rs 525.

Company news

Blackstone and Xstrata Nickel have renegotiated the payment schedule under which Blackstone will acquire 100 per cent of the shares in Sulfidmalm. By acquiring 100 per cent of Sulfidmalm’s interest, Blackstone will take over ownership in all its Norway nickel exploration projects.  In total, Blackstone will pay US$15.5 million, of which $6.5 million has already been received by Xstrata. The new payment schedule is to be completed by December 31, 2012, two years later than initially discussed.  In accordance with the amended agreement, Blackstone will, subject to regulatory approval, issue Xstrata Nickel a total of 6 million warrants. Each warrant shall entitle Xstrata Nickel to subscribe for one common share of the company at an exercise price of $1.00 at any time prior to the day that is 24 months from the signing of this amendment. The amended agreement will allow Blackstone to conserve its capital during difficult market conditions and focus their efforts on completing up-to-date National Instrument 43-101 resource estimates for the Norwegian nickel projects.

The world’s number one nickel producer, Norilsk Nickel, has hired Grand Duke Georgy Romanov to lobby its interests in Brussels. Duke Georgy Romanov will be given the task of holding talks with the European Commission, which is now discussing whether to classify a number of nickel compounds as hazardous substances. Norilsk is concerned that new EU environmental regulations could harm the companies exports. In other news, the Norwegian government has confirmed that confirms that it is likely to withdraw a multi-million Euro grant to Norilsk Nickel, as the company has failed to introduce green technology at its plant near the border to Norway. Deputy Minister of Environment Heidi Sørensen confirmed that the money to the mining and Metallurgy Company was likely to be withdrawn. “We feel that time is about to run out for the deal on cleansing of the nickel plant”, she said. The deadline is 2010, if they have not completed the cleansing by then, the deadline will not be extended. The Nickel plant now emits about 90,000 tons of sulphur, which is several times more than the total Norwegian emissions. In a meeting in Kirkenes, Norway, in June 2008, director of Norilsk Nickel subsidiary Kolskaya GMK Vladimir Potapov confirmed that his company did not need the Norwegian money. As a matter of fact, he also stated that Norilsk Nickel intended to close the plant in Nikel and move production to Monchegorsk further south in Murmansk Oblast.

Mirabela Nickel has announced resource calculations for its underground nickel resource at its Santa Rita deposit in Brazil. The deposit, which is the largest nickel sulphide resource in South America, contained 450,000 tonnes of nickel. “Scoping studies on the underground mining project have been positive and the resource seems highly amenable to bulk underground mining techniques,” the company said. The Santa Rita deposit was discovered in 2004 and is the largest greenfield nickel sulphide discovery in the world in the past decade. Mirabela said an expansion of the Santa Rita concentrator to allow large-scale underground production was possible with work started on a pre-feasibility study. The discovery will provide a much-needed boost for the Brazil-focused nickel miner after it announced in October it would delay attempts to complete the syndication of $US280 million  in debt for two months.