Trafigura Bets on Green-Nickel Squeeze in Defiance of China Cure
- Firm enters Goro mine on view that nickel prices will rebound
- Deal signed after Tsingshan upended nickel with new technique
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Just weeks after a novel production method upended the nickel market, two big names in the battery supply chain made a play that suggests the world’s worries about sourcing cheap, clean supplies are far from over.
Commodity trader Trafigura Group and Elon Musk’s Tesla Inc. signed a deal in late March to enter the Goro nickel mine in New Caledonia, part of a group that took over operations from Vale SA. The transaction wasn’t a surprise, with Vale in talks to offload the under-performing mine for months. But the timing was telling.