PT Inco reports higher nickel sales, output in Q3

JSX listed nickel miner PT International Nickel Indonesia Tbk (Inco) reported on Friday that its third quarter 2007 unaudited sales increased 82.6 percent to US$561.6 million from $307.6 million in the same quarter last year.

Sales rose 149.6% to $l,867.4 million in the first nine months of 2007 from $748.1 million in the corresponding 2006 period, the company said in statement

Production in third quarter 2007 was 42.0 million pounds of nickel-in-matte, compared to 37.8 million pounds in the same period last year. Production of nickel-in-matte in the first nine months of 2007 rose to 128.1 million pounds from 11 1.1 million pounds in the same period of 2006, it said.

The Company?s realized price for nickel-in-matte averaged $12.02 per pound in the third quarter of 2007, compared to $9.53 per pound in the corresponding 2006 period and $14.46 per pound in the first nine months of 2007.

Unit cash cost of production in the third quarter of 2007 rose 8% to $3.63 per pound from $3.36 per pound in the same period last year.

The company, which is a unit of Brazil mining conglomerate Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (CVRD), mine for nickel in Sorowako, South Sulawesi.(denny)