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Nickel Industries (ASX:NIC) begins commissioning of Angel Nickel Power Plant

ASX News, Materials
ASX:NIC      MCAP $3.903B
25 July 2022 16:34 (AEDT)

Angel Nickel’s power plant commences commissioning Source: Nickel Industries

Nickel Industries (NIC) has begun the commissioning of the Angel Nickel Power Plant on Halmahera Island.

The company’s 80 per cent owned Angel Nickel Project began the commissioning process of its 380-megawatt power plant within the Indonesia Weda Bay Industrial Park.

NIC said the commissioning of the power plant is ahead of schedule, and follows the early commissioning of the project’s four RKEF lines between January to May this year, which was originally anticipated in October 2022.

Angel Nickel has been operating at around 80 per cent of nameplate capacity, due to being restricted by power availability within the IWIP electricity grid.

However, thanks to its own power source coming online, production levels at the project are expected to increase to approximately 130 per cent of nameplate capacity.

Additionally, by having its own power source, Angel Nickel’s four RKEF lines are expected to save around 20 per cent on electricity charges, which currently account for roughly 25 per cent of total operating cash costs.

Nickel Industries’ Managing Director Justin Werner said the early commissioning of the Angel RKEF lines more than six months ahead of schedule allowed the team to significantly bring forward nickel production.

“With Angel’s power plant now commissioned this should allow us to ramp up to approximately 130 per cent of name plate capacity, which will greatly increase nickel metal production and assist to materially decrease Angel operating costs,” he said.

Nickel Industries was up three per cent to close at $1.03 per share.

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