Nickel

Anglo American (LON:AAL) has discovered what could be Europe's largest nickel deposit in a bog in Finnish Lapland. Helsingin Sanomat reports exploration drilling by the British-American mining giant has found samples of ore containing 4% nickel in the Viiankiaapa mire area north of Sodankylä. That compares to 0.4% nickel in the nearby Kevitsa deposit being developed by First Quantum Minerals (TSE:FM), which has spent about 300 million euros constructing a new copper-nickel mine. The news site says Anglo American plans to double the number of drill holes to chart the width and depth of the deposit. The ore body is believed to extend to the surface and measure one kilometre long by half a kilometre wide.

Stock in Formation Metals (TSE:FCO) plunged 13% today after a European bank decided to terminate its loan agreement with the Vancouver-based company. The $79.5 million loan from BNP Paribas was to go towards construction of Formation's Idaho cobalt mine. Formation said the credit facility was terminated without the closing of the subject financing.

London-listed ENK has announced the first nickel production from its Acoje pilot plant located 250 km north of Manila in the Philippines. Approximately 50 kg (dry weight) of nickel hydroxide product (NHP) was released from the filter press on October 25.

Royal Nickel (TSE:RNX) plans to advance its Dumont Nickel project, which is estimated to generate $1.1 billion after tax NPV, after receiving a prositive pre-feasibility study. The company, which made the announcement on Tuesday, expects production to start in 2015. On Wednesday afternoon Royal Nickel's stock was down 1.27% to 78 cents a share. The company says there will be a staged development so it can lower cost and risk. Initial capital expenditure of $1.1 billion for 50 ktpd operation is planned.

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. has approved a US$850 million expansion to the Tenke Fungurume mining operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Lundin Mining, a partner at the mine with FCX, made the announcement in a press release on Tuesday night. The phase two expansion, targeted for completion in 2013, will increase copper production by 50% to about 195,000 tonnes of copper cathode and 15,000 tonnes of cobalt in hydroxide. Funding will be split 70:30 between the mines two partners, FCX and Lundin Mining. The companies expect that capital costs will be funded by surplus cash from Tenke Fungurume operations.

A mining industry consultant says the high processing costs and level of expertise required in bringing rare earth mines into production means most of them will fail. In an interview with Reuters, Jack Lifton, founder of Technology Metals Research, said of the 244 companies hoping to extract REEs, less than 4% will be profitable: "The choke point for all the companies is the question of what they can do with the concentrated REM ore once it's above ground. You can extract the rare earths together, but then you have to separate them...the world's REM separation capacity is 99 percent Chinese and they have unused capacity," Lifton said. "The Chinese overwhelmingly control this and that is the key to the rare earth industry. Without separation capacity, all you have is a loss-making ore concentrate company."

Australian copper and zinc miner Kagara Ltd. (ASX:KZL) is selling its Lounge Lizard nickel mine. "Kagara and its adviser Goldman Sachs & Partners Australia have commenced discussions with potential purchasers of Kagara’s nickel assets. Kagara expects to finalise the sale process during the first quarter of 2012," Kagara said in a statement on Monday. Reuters reported that Kagara's mining partner, Western Areas, is not interested.

A new minimally-invasive procedure that can safely and effectively treat brain aneurysms without open surgery by implanting an FDA-approved device consisting of a flexible braided mesh tube made of platinum and nickel-cobalt chromium alloy directly into the artery has been chosen by research facility Cleveland Clinic as one of the top 10 medical innovations for 2012. The 90-year old multispecialty academic medical center which has pioneered among others coronary artery bypass surgery and performed the US's first face transplant also included a new Concussion Management System for Athletes, Genetically Modified Mosquitoes to Reduce Disease Threat and Wearable Robotic Devices in the top 10.

Canada's number one coal producer and world-leading nickel miner, Sherritt jumped 10.2% on Wednesday after reporting a doubling of quarterly net earnings and good progress at its massive Ambatovy project in Madagascar. Sherritt will start production at Ambatovy in the first quarter of next year. The company has already spent more than 90% of the planned $5.5 billion to build what will be the world's biggest nickel mine with the capacity to produce 60,000 tonnes of nickel and 5,600 of cobalt a year. Sherritt and its Asian partners have made the largest investment in the island's history and will make nickel the country's number one export for the next 27 years.