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“You will see car and battery manufacturers finds in established areas are also possible. stability of cost versus what we are used to do-
moving further upstream and the miner mov- Mincor’s Cassini greenfields discovery is ing in mining, which is managing commodity
ing a bit further downstream,” IGO chief oper- the first in the Kambalda region for 20 years prices that vary all the time.”
ating officer Matt Dusci predicted. and is an important cog in the company mov- As Western Areas Ltd managing direc-
“Part of our strategy is to try and look at how ing towards a final investment decision [FID] to tor for over a decade, Dan Lougher has rid-
we create value by being downstream and restart its Kambalda nickel operations. den the highs and lows synonymous with the
improving our product. We produce a concen- “Assuming we make a FID later this quarter, nickel sector.
trate and when you look at the supply chain production is a 2022 story. We hope we have Lougher reported strong ties with Western
and how disruptive and fragmented it is and our timing right,” Mincor managing director Areas’ customers in China and offered some
how much value loss happens throughout David Southam said. sage advice for parties looking to penetrate
that supply chain, there is a real opportunity “It is good news for the industry that BHP the EV and battery markets.
to optimise the commodity or chemical. It is a [Ltd] is willing to invest in nickel and Nickel “I think you’d be wise if you are European
market which didn’t exist four years ago. We West. They are talking about the growth in or American to start thinking about your own
put a lot of time into how we optimise a nickel copper, iron ore, and nickel so certainly prom- supply chain and where does that commodity
concentrate to produce a nickel sulphate and ising for the future. We have a very motivated come from,” Lougher said.
looked at how that market went. customer [BHP] who is short of quality nickel “If you get that group that breaks away from
“For us as a company to invest we need se- concentrate.” China and I think it is heading that way, the
curity of supply and that is where our explora- Exponential growth in EV sales is expected OEMs will jump on onboard. I think that will be
tion is fundamental in the next generation of in the next 15 years globally, however, car great for our market moving forward in lithium,
supply,” he said. manufacturers and battery makers are bat- cobalt and nickel. That bifurcation of Europe
Through its own portfolio or in conjunc- tling to come to terms with security of supply and North America and China and Indonesia
tion with partners on other projects, IGO has of the essential ingredients. which will have to come into play at some point
made a large commitment to exploration for “The supply chain is incredibly fragment- because they have a large nickel resource,
base metals – such as nickel and copper – rel- ed and complex taking a raw product and but I think that is going to be great for Western
evant to a clean energy future. ultimately putting it into the battery. From Areas and companies like us.
Part of IGO’s exploration strategy is geared our perspective, the car manufacturers “If you open up a new market in Europe and
towards belt-scale opportunities, including in have struggled to deal with the volatility that it looks like it is starting to take off and maybe
emerging provinces of Western Australia such they normally wouldn’t have to deal with in North America and maybe Canada…if I was
as the Paterson and Fraser Range. terms of LME nickel prices,” Dusci said. a large company I’d start looking and focusing
While IGO has the budget and repertoire “Volatility is what we all live with as min- my own materials in my own country for my
to undertake expansive exploration pro- ers but it’s something that car manufacturers own cars.”
grammes in such areas, the likes of Mincor haven’t lived with. There is a strong discon-
Resources NL are proving that greenfields nect in what they want in terms of production – Mark Andrews

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