Mineral exploration company Independence Group NL (ASX: IGO) is shopping for sites for a nickel sulphate processing plant as it works to meet the demand of Korean and Chinese battery manufacturers – according to an article in The Financial Review.
The report named Kwinana, south of Perth, as Independence's favoured site for a processing plant to convert its nickel concentrate to nickel sulphate, with a recent trial so successful Independence has applied for a patent.
Independence shares have been on a decline of late after an impressive six months of gains earlier in the year but were up 0.4% to $4.29 at the time of writing.
While Macquarie last month slapped an underperform rating on the stock, Independence may have time to redeem itself nicely in the medium term if its nickel sulphate plans take off, but investors did not respond well to its quarterly report results, which showed copper production missed FY18 guidance and cash costs came in above expected levels.
Galaxy Resources Limited (ASX: GXY) and Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS) were the two commodity stocks at the top of the S&P/ASX 200 gains list this morning, with Galaxy up 3.4% to $2.84 and Pilbara up 3% to 92c per share.
