Nickel

The Italian stainless steel and nickel alloy manufacturer, Valbruna Slater Stainless, Inc., a subsidiary of Vicenza, will be investing approximately USD $30.5 million to renovate and equip its Fort Wayne, Indiana facilities.

The manufacturer of stainless steel, nickel alloys and titanium wire, Zapp Precision Wire, Inc. is expanding its operations in Dorchester County, South Carolina. The expansion is reported to cost approximately USD $30 million.

Canada's Lundin Mining is entering the ramp-up phase at its new Eagle nickel and copper mine located in in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. It began production in late September. Eagle is projected to have a relatively brief eight-year life and the Toronto-based company is preparing for peak production from 2015-2017.

Macquarie Commodities Research has reported that extreme destocking is now prevalent from nickel ore to stainless steel, and once nickel metal and ore, and stainless steel prices are perceived to have bottomed, there could be another rush to buy.

The Columbia, South Carolina (CAE) location of West Star Aviation has recently added accessory shop capabilities. The new shop became fully operational this past April. The company is already planning another all new accessory shop at their East Alton, Illinois (ALN) location during the fourth quarter of this year.

The Nickel Institute has released a brand-new publication to help inform the general public about nickel. The new two-page document, called Nickel Essentials, details the metal’s main properties, interesting facts as well as its first uses and end-uses.

Over the first half of 2014, the stainless steel scrap market has been very strong thanks to a period of rising nickel prices and a strong US demand for scrap. The country is now home to four major producers of stainless steel.

The US Department of Commerce have released statistics detailing that the export result of nickel scrap in August 2014 was approximately 2,541 tons, which was up 8.8 percent from July 2014, which was 2,335 tons.

The Australian company, Direct Nickel, has developed a new method of extracting ore from nickel laterite deposits, which is set to revolutionize the global nickel and stainless steel industries.

Nickel latertite is often used to strengthen metals like stainless steel, but can be notoriously expensive to extract.

The recent drop in nickel should not have a big impact on Sudbury’s mining supply and services sector, states Dick DeStefano, executive director of the Sudbury Area Mining Supply and Services Association.