New book ‘102 Things to Do with a Hole in the Ground‘ spotlights global reclamation projects
Stories of reinvented coal mining regions, regenerated communities and rebuilt ecosystems are told in a new book published this month.
The global nickel production is expected to decline by 7.4% to 2,195 thousand tonnes in 2020, according to GlobalData.
Temporary suspensions of mines caused by the covid-19 pandemic, along with the advancement of Indonesia’s export ban are expected to be the significant contributors to this decline, the data and analytics company said.
Indonesia’s mine production is expected to fall to 680kt in 2020 – down by 15%, compared with 800kt in 2019, owing to the advancement of the exports ban from 2022 to 2020.
Global nickel mine production over the forecast period (2021–2024) is expected to recover at a compound annual growth rate of 4.2%
“Indonesian nickel mining companies without integrated nickel pig iron operations have been facing difficulties in selling output to domestic smelters at low prices alongside inadequate capacity,” said Vinneth Bajaj, Senior Mining Analyst at GlobalData.
“Domestic miners have been either halting or curbing their output in the first three quarters of the year and this is expected to continue over the rest of 2020.”
Mine production in the Philippines is forecasted to fall by 9.3%, down to 293.4kt in 2020.
On 1 April 2020, Nickel Asia Corp. and Global Ferronickel Holdings Inc. suspended operations in the Surigao del Norte province, where most of the country’s mines are located, due to the covid-19 pandemic. By mid-May, operations were resumed albeit with strict safety protocols.
Production in New Caledonia and Brazil is expected to collectively increase by 6.9% in 2020. The increase will be supported by the resumption of commercial production at the Santa Rita mine in Brazil, halted in 2015 due to low nickel prices, and by higher production from Vale’s Goro nickel project in New Caledonia.
Global nickel mine production over the forecast period (2021–2024) is expected to recover at a compound annual growth rate of 4.2%, to reach 2,638kt in 2024.
Projects which most likely to commence operations during the forecast period include Indonesia’s East Halmahera (2021) and Aquila Nickel projects (2023) and the Kingash project in Russia (2024).
