Agoracom

Meanwhile, Vale asserted that the near term scenario for nickel stocks has improved as "demand is increasing and prices are holding firm, hovering around US$28,000-30,000 per metric tons." Production disruptions are also having an effect on nickel supplies.

Vale noted that in the copper market, "prices are very sensitive to low inventories given the significant challenges to supply growth. Existing mines are showing lower grades, there is no pipeline of new large projects, projects being developed have lower grads and higher stripping ratios than existing mines and supply expansion is increasingly dependent on riskier geographical locations