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Gold/Mining/Energy : Canmine resources -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Marshhawk who wrote (1879)	9/13/1999 6:00:00 PM
From: Cumbrian	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 2769

Below is a clip from the 1998 year end, as you can see deliveries and production are not the same. INCO has purchased nickel for delivery for as long as I can remember. A point of interest is that when VB was first announced it was said it would produce 280 MM Lbs of nickel a year, this was the exact amount that INCO had to purchase on the open market that year in order to meet their customer demand. As I have stated before on this thread I firmly believe that HPAL will work and be a force to be reckoned with. I have worked at hydrometallurgical plants and they do not come up and running easily, but if it works in the lab it will be made to work at the plant level. I do not classify New Caledonia as politically unstable. True there is a independence issue and has been some disruptions of production their however I doubt these will become a serious issue. Geoff. DELIVERIES OF PRIMARY METALS Year ended Dec. 31 1998 1997 Nickel in all forms (tonnes) 252,925 266,343 Copper (tonnes) 133,076 138,451 Cobalt (tonnes) 2,004 2,295 Platinum-group metals (thousands of troy ounces) 334 263 Gold (thousands of troy ounces) 50 45 Silver (thousands of troy ounces) 1,385 1,340 While total deliveries of nickel decreased in the fourth quarter and year 1998, relative to the corresponding 1997 periods, principally reflecting reduced purchases by stainless steel producers in Japan, deliveries of Inco-source nickel increased. Sales and costs of sales in 1998 reflected deliveries of 67,018 tonnes of purchased nickel, on which little or no profit is realized, to meet customer requirements, compared with 84,823 tonnes in 1997. While the company's nickel production was 191,603 tonnes in 1998, compared with 178,717 tonnes in 1997, production continued to be below capacity at PT International Nickel Indonesia Tbk primarily as a result of limited hydroelectric power generation caused by the continuing below average level of rainfall in Soroako during the year.