[IMG]| By| CHAKALISA DUBE| Fri 02 Feb 2018, 17:45 pm (GMT +2...

	Column 1	Column 2	Column 3	Column 4
0		By	CHAKALISA DUBE	Fri 02 Feb 2018, 17:45 pm (GMT +2

Mmegi online....

FRANCISTOWN: The liquidator of Tati Nickel Mining Company (TNMC) Nigel Dixon-Warren says he has unearthed additional information that could help attract investors to acquire the Mine.


I note and understand other posts feeling the new BOD is more committed to new opportunities than the JV areas but I do feel progress on TNMC can only be beneficial as it may encourage a buyer to take on the BCL smelter, which then will improve the SI6 prospects as the JV areas lie midway between the smelter and Tati. The nickel price (and Cu/Co) is doubtless the key to whether things will progress or not.
The touted idea of getting rid of most of the environmental negatives holding back any investment in the BCL assets including the smelter by getting an investor to reprocess the Selebi-Phikwe slag for Ni/Cu then pumping the residue into one of the BCL disused shafts appears sound to me, as the fear of costly environmental cleanup around the BCL shafts seems to be the major reason no buyer can be found for BCL assets, despite unmined resources remaining ( albeit they need upgrading as the previous management seem to have failed to replace resources against those being extracted.)
To my thinking ARM (Patrice Motsepe's group and 50% owners of Nkomati) or even Norilsk themselves might be a logical fit. It will be interesting if/when KPMG release the names of the interested parties.
Given Maibele has a JORC resource already and BCL had earlier reported their intention to move to open pit mining Maibele once a BFS was done, it seems to me it would be a strange outcome to walk
away from it. On the other hand the potential buyers may consider it all a bit hard.

Rough couple days on the markets, but still at time of writing Ni US$ 6.14/lb, Cu 3.22, both up strongly tonight.

Regards.