The Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics in a quarterly report said that nickel mine production in Australia fell in the quarter ended September 30th 2009 by 23% YoY to 40,000 tonnes.

It said that the shortfall is due to number of mines that remain closed following sharp falls in nickel prices in late 2008 and early 2009.

ABARE estimated that 40,000 tonnes of nickel capacity in Australia was currently out of operation.

(Sourced from Reuters)