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been hit by cost inflation, Nickel Industries tpa [annualised] already.
had been able to maintain margins, a fac- “Oracle will be a carbon copy of Angel,
tor Werner attributes to the company’s In- with the first line coming onstream in Octo-
donesian base. ber ahead of schedule. That will then ramp
“There is a benefit in that Indonesia is up over the following 3-4 months to get us
overall cheaper than China for NPI pro- close to that 100,000 tpa NPI target.”
duction,” he said. “We also have the ben- Oracle, acquired in August through a
efit of being in the industrial park, which $US225 million debt facility, comprises
means we can rely on economies-of-scale four RKEF lines with a nameplate capacity
and price smoothing.” of 36,000 tpa.
Those advantages mean Nickel Indus- Margins will be further enhanced next
tries remains at the bottom of the NPI year when a 200MWp plus 20MWh bat-
cost-curve, crucial in a highly competitive tery solar project is installed, servicing
industry which has seen demand curtailed Hengjaya, Ranger and Oracle.
in recent months. “We expect to generate a 20% cost sav-
“Stainless steel is still a bit depressed ing on power through the delivery of the
because of China’s zero COVID strategy new power station,” Werner said.
but we believe they will come out of that With such a bright outlook within the
soon and expect to see stimulus as a re- IMIP, Werner has little interest in acquiring
sult,” Werner said. “Regardless, we are offshore assets.
still at the bottom of the NPI cost curve.” “We’re buying these projects at 2.7
The margins are likely to be maintained times EBITDA, if you look at the IGO [Ltd]/
as the company increases its capacity. Western Areas deal, it was done at multi-
The Hengjaya and Ranger RKEF lines ples of that, with capex still to come,” he
produced a combined 19,500t in the half- said. “We are not a mining company, so
year but with the Angel operation expect- we don’t have sustaining capex require-
ed to hit full capacity later this year, that ments. We are a pure industrial vehicle,
figure will nearly double. producing very profitable nickel units.”
“Angel came online ahead of schedule
and the ramp-up is travelling smoothly,” – Dominic Piper The RKEF lines at Nickel Industries’
Werner said. “It has a 36,000 tpa name- Hengjaya operations, which produce
plate capacity but is producing at 45,000 20,000 tpa of nickel pig iron

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