Zimbabwe nickel sales up in Q1, spurred by Indonesia ban

Bindura Nickel Corporation (BNC), Zimbabwe's major nickel producer, said Tuesday that 100 percent of the nickel it produced in the quarter ending March 31 was sold with a 1.5 percent increase in the average price. BNC's Trojan Mine achieved nickel in concentrate sales of 2,207 tons in the quarter, up 9.5 percent from the previous quarter. The average selling price rose to 14,075 U.S. dollars per ton. BNC said the pick-up in nickel sales against the general dip of value of base metals in the global market was a result of a ban on raw ores export by Indonesia, accounting for over a fifth of global supply. Nickel is an ingredient in stainless steel. Botswana and South Africa are also major nickel producers on the continent. Zimbabwe produced about 12,000 tons of nickel in 2013. The government aims to raise its nickel output to 15,000 tons in 2014, to sustain the projected 11.4 percent growth of the mining sector together with strong performance in gold, diamond and coal. BNC, in which South Africa's Mwana Africa holds 75.4 percent of the shares, owns and operates Zimbabwe's major nickel mines.