NORTHERN SUN MINING CORP LBEFF

Nickel Advances as Voisey''s Bay Production Ha

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According to Bloomberg: https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601012&sid=aJxxbLBmEC.U&refer=commodities# Nickel Advances as Voisey's Bay Production Halts; Copper Gains By Chanyaporn Chanjaroen May 25 (Bloomberg) -- Nickel rose from close to a two-month low in London after production from the Voisey's Bay mill in Canada was shut because of a dispute over safety. Copper and zinc also advanced. Cia. Vale do Rio Doce, the world's second-largest refiner of the metal, said yesterday that employees were refusing to return to work at the mine in Labrador. The unit produces about 1,300 metric tons of concentrate, an intermediate product, daily. Nickel stockpiles stand at about three days of global demand. ``The dispute at Voisey's Bay is supporting prices,'' said Andrew Keen, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein Ltd. in London who has covered the industry for 17 years. ``There's still not much inventory.'' Nickel for delivery in three months gained $640, or 1.4 percent, to $2,760 a metric ton as of 9:17 a.m. on the London Metal Exchange. That still represents a weekly decline of 9.4 percent, the steepest drop since the week ended March 23. The contract fell to its lowest since March 30 yesterday. Nickel, used in stainless steel, has gained 37 percent this year, the best performance among the six metals traded on the LME. The metal traded at a record $51,800 a ton on May 9, prompting steelmakers including ThyssenKrupp AG to say they would make more nickel-free products to cut costs. Mining operations and shipments of nickel concentrate at Voisey's Bay haven't been affected, Carter said. A dispute with 100 unionized workers employed by two contractors forced Vale to shut its mill for about a week last month. LME-monitored nickel inventories rose 252 tons, or 3.5 percent, to 7,452 tons, the exchange said today. That brought total gain this week to 54 percent. Stockpiles are at about a quarter of their annual average over the last quarter of a century, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Nickel Consumption Nickel may drop to $40,000 in the coming month if stockpiles continue to expand, John Reade, head of metals strategy at UBS Ltd. in London, said May 23. China, the world's largest nickel consumer, imported 20 percent less of the metal in April than a year earlier, according to the customs data released today. Copper gained $63, or 0.9 percent, to $7,063 a ton, snapping three days of losses. The metal has dropped 2.8 percent this week, a third consecutive decline. Chinese imports of copper and its alloys fell 7.7 percent to 192,069 tons in April from March, according to the customs data. The imports more than doubled on a year earlier. Among other metals traded on the LME, aluminum was unchanged at $2,755 a ton, lead added $5 to $2,125 and tin was unchanged at $13,850. Zinc rose $12 to $3,582. To contact the reporters on this story: Chanyaporn Chanjaroen in London at [e-mail] ; Brett Foley in London at [e-mail] . Last Updated: May 25, 2007 04:56 EDT