Minerals & Metals Group, the Australian unit of China Minmetals Group, said that nickel prices will need to remain at about USD 20,000 a tonne before the company will study a restart of its Avebury mine in Tasmania.

Ms Sally Cox spokeswoman for MMG said that "We're looking for longer term stability in the nickel price. There is a lot of costs involved in reopening the operations and we would want to see some consistency around that USD 20,000 price before making a decision to invest."

Ms Cox said that China Minmetals may consider listing MMG in a separate unit at a later date. She added that there are no immediate plans to do so.

(Sourced from www.bloomberg.net)