Anaconda Nickel sees bigger loss (September 14, 2001)

Vancouver — The financial woes for Anaconda Nickel continue and the Australian nickel laterite miner has posted a second-half loss of A$76 million.

This marks a gigantic jump from the A$6.7 million shortfall the company tabled in the first half of 2000.

For the year, the Perth-based company, 21.1% of which is owned by mining giant Anglo American (AAUK-Q), tallied a loss of A$83.4 million, compared with a loss of A$5.8 million in the corresponding period a year ago.

Driving the losses is the slow progress of Anaconda’s Murrin Murrin nickel project in Western Australia.

Murrin Murrin is operating at 60% capacity and processing about 80 tonnes nickel per day.

The company continues to say that the ramp-up of operations is on schedule, though the target date for full commercial production has been moved back several times. In 1999, the company was predicting full production by early 2000.

Anaconda’s share price has been eroding since last September, when it reached a high of A$4.08. It fell dramatically from A$2 at the beginning of March to a low of A$0.71. This was the lowest level since April 1996.