Nickel prices continue to plummet

The price of nickel and other base metals continues to plummet.

Nickel prices have dropped about 40 per cent this year alone.

As of early this week, nickel was trading at about $3.75 US a pound — and one observer says he's not sure if nickel has hit bottom.

Goodman School of Mines executive director Bruce Jago told CBC News the problem is that China's building boom has slowed down, and parts of Europe are in recession, so there's an oversupply of metals on the market.

Jago said there are not enough purchasers, and companies that mine in Sudbury are going to be looking for ways to cut costs.

"Layoffs are part of it, decreasing capital expenditures are part of it, deferred expenditures and so on," he said.

Two mines closed recently in Sudbury: KGHM's McCreedy West mine and First Nickel's Lockerby mine.

The news is a little better for gold miners, Jago noted.

"I think they're doing fairly well in terms of keeping costs under control and so on, and gold, it's been hit hard, but it hasn't been hit as hard as base metal mines."