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MELBOURNE—Australia’s
port of Esperance will be blocked from exporting any
more nickel concentrate until ore loading procedures are
changed, the Western Australian state government said.
The
port, which banned lead exports in March on pollution
concern, must reduce the potential for nickel dust
escaping and make improvements such as water- proofing
after minor spillages were observed during loading last
week, Western Australia’s Department of Environment,
said in a statement.
LionOre
Mining Ltd. and Jubilee Mines NL, the only two nickel
mining companies to use the port, exported 213,000
metric tons of concentrate between them last year.
Nickel, used to make stainless steel, rose to a record
May 4 as supply slumped 81 percent in the past year to
less than two days of global consumption.
“The
port is required to make improvements to parts of its
loading facility to reduce the potential for escape of
dust and to prevent spillage into the marine environment
before any future shipments of nickel ore,’’ Robert
Atkins, a director at the environment department said
late Monday in a statement.
Shares
of Jubilee fell as much as 49 cents, or 2.7 percent, to
A$17.51 and traded at A$17.65 at
1:28 p.m. in
Sydney.
Shares in LionOre, the subject of C$5.3 billion ($4.8
billion) takeover bid by Russia’s OAO GMK Norilsk
Nickel, rose 19 cents, or 0.7 percent, to A$26.23.
The
department monitored the loading of 20,500 tons of
nickel concentrate from Toronto-based LionOre and
Perth-based Jubilee over the weekend. While three
environmental notices were issued during the loading the
ship left for Rotterdam on May 6.
“Until
we know what the notices are we can’t really say whether
or not it will have any impact,’’ LionOre’s Australian
managing director Brian Hill said by phone from Perth
Tuesday. “It is something we are trying to look into.’’
LionOre,
planning to make its next nickel shipment in the second
half of June, is yet to make contact with the port, Hill
said. He added the notices “were probably minor things.”
Nickel
for delivery in three months on the London Metal climbed
$1,800, or 3.6 percent, to $51,600 on a ton on Friday,
the most recent day of trading. Earlier, prices reached
$51,625 a ton, the highest ever.
Lead
shipments from the port, located on the southern coast
of Western Australia state about 730 kilometers (450
miles) from Perth, were suspended in March amid concern
of lead pollution in the town.
--Bloomberg |
