Nickel Industries reports 4.41% year-on-year drop in Q1 2026 nickel production

Nickel Industries reported that total nickel metal production from its RKEF projects reached 30,264 tonnes in the first quarter of 2026, representing a 3.82% decline from the previous quarter. The company's asset portfolio includes an 80% interest in four RKEF projects: Hengjaya Nickel (HNI), Ranger Nickel (RNI), Angel Nickel (ANI), and Oracle Nickel (ONI). Nickel production from HNI, RNI, ANI, and ONI stood at 4,089 tonnes, 4,168 tonnes, 10,560 tonnes, and 11,447 tonnes, respectively.

Nickel pig iron (NPI) production reached 274,100 tonnes, up 2% from the fourth quarter of 2025. However, due to lower nickel grades, production in terms of nickel content came in at 30,300 tonnes, down 4% quarter-on-quarter.

Based on Nickel Industries' 10% equity interest, the Huayue Nickel Cobalt HPAL project (HNC) produced 21,500 tonnes of nickel in mixed hydroxide precipitate (MHP) and 2,370 tonnes of cobalt in the first quarter. This represents a 44% exceedance of its annual design capacity of 60,000 tonnes of nickel.