Appian Capital in talks to sell Atlantic Nickel for $1B, Brazilian daily newspaper reports

London-based private equity fund Appian Capital is said to be in advanced negotiations to sell its Atlantic Nickel unit in Brazil for around US$1 billion, with Canada’s Teck Resources (TSX: TECK.A /TECK.B; NYSE: TCK) cited as one of the likely buyers. 

According to the O Estado de S. Paulo newspaper, the Vancouver-based miner’s main interest is Atlantic Nickel’s Santa Rita open pit nickel-cobalt mine in the northeastern state of Bahia.  

One of the largest open pit nickel sulphide mines in the world, Santa Rita was operated by Mirabela Nickel for six years before being placed on care and maintenance due to the low nickel prices in 2015. 

Appian, which acquired the mine in 2018 from Mirabela Nickel as part of a bankruptcy process, is said to be looking to recover the capital sunk into bringing the past-producing mine back online, which happened in early 2020. The sum has been estimated as US$1 billion, the company’s website shows. 

Open-pit operations, expected to last until 2028, have an estimated annual production capacity of 16.5ktpa of nickel in sulphide concentrate. Santa Rita will then be transitioned into an underground mining operation, extending the life of the mine from eight to 34 years, Atlantic Nickel has said. 

Based on a preliminary economic assessment for Santa Rita published a year ago, open-pit measured and indicated resources stand at 59.15 million tonnes grading 0.33% nickel sulphide, 0.11% copper, 0.01% cobalt, 0.03 gram palladium per tonne, 0.06 gram platinum per tonne, and 0.04 gram gold per tonne.   

Indicated resources for the underground mine tally 54.59 million tonnes grading 0.58% nickel sulphide, 0.18% copper, 0.01% cobalt, 0.05 gram palladium, 0.10 gram platinum and 0.07 gram gold. 

Nickel’s usage is growing in lithium-ion batteries and the accelerated roll-out of electric vehicles is making certain types of the metal popular among investors, as it can be processed into battery precursor materials. 

The more traditional use of nickel is in the processing of stainless steel for kitchen appliances and utensils. 

Analysts expect shortages of copper, cobalt, nickel and other industrial materials needed for the shift to a low carbon world, partly due to underinvestment in the mining sector and accelerating demand.