Monsters of Rock: Nickel just crossed US$20K turning little Aussie miners into little Aussie monsters

Nickel prices crossed the psychologically significant US$20,000/t mark overnight lifting the sector, as a fleck of optimism around China’s property market reinvigorated base metals.

Nickel recorded a large 6.5% bounce to hit US$20,652/t, lifting junior and mid-tier companies playing the battery and stainless steel ingredient.

While prices for base metals have been falling on China demand fears in recent weeks, very low supplies in metals warehouses and tight supply-demand metrics that could see the market fall either way between surplus and deficit this year will provide steam if China can get its economy in check.

Mincor Resources (ASX:MCR) gained 5.23%, while Nickel Industries (ASX:NIC) was up 2.19%, Panoramic Resources (ASX:PAN) registered a 5.71% gain and Poseidon Nickel (ASX:POS) lifted 4.88%.

Copper stocks were ho-hum despite prices rising more than 3% to US$7426/t.

29Metals (ASX:29M) was the best of the pure play copper stocks, up 4.4%.

Monsters share prices today:

Alkane, Perseus standout in gold

African gold miners tend to have punched above their weight since the start of the pandemic, a narrative largely led by Perseus Mining (ASX:PRU) and West African Resources (ASX:WAF).

West African had a week to remember last week, announcing it remained on track to hit production guidance with output of 64,114oz gold production at an all-in sustaining cost of US$959/oz before being announced as Uniti Group’s official replacement in the ASX 200 index.

Lovely stuff for an emerging mid-tier that is yet to deliver the disappointments which feel inevitable in the gold industry right now.

Perseus, which owns operations in Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire along with a recently acquired development asset in northern Sudan, caught the eye of investors today with a new indicated resource announcement at the Nkosuo deposit of 14.5Mt at 0.91g/t for 422,000oz.

Probably ore reserves total 10Moz at 1.04g/t for 332,000oz, something that will extend the life of the Edikan mine in Ghana by 18-24 months into 2027.