on april 20, brazil's vale sa (vale) released its production report for the first quarter of 2023. among them, the output of nickel was 401,000 tons, a decrease of 13.5% month-on-month and a year-on-year decrease of 10%. nickel sales were 40,100 tons, a year-on-year increase of 2.8%, and a month-on-month decrease of 31.1%.
the production change was mainly due to the continued transition to underground operations at the voisey’s bay mine and a slightly longer period than a year earlier for planned maintenance at the matsusaka refinery.
