IGO’s stricken Western Areas assets face year-long, $275m blowout

Elouise Fowler and Brad Thompson

Jul 18, 2023 – 5.47pm

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Key Points

Why it matters: IGO’s market capitalisation has fallen by almost $1 billion
The company slashed $1 billion off the value of two assets acquired last year
It blames the writedown on higher costs, and delays at the nickel mining sites

IGO, the West Australian nickel and lithium miner that slashed almost $1 billion from the value of assets it acquired from Western Areas, faces a year-long delay and a $275 million cost blowout on that project.

That is the conclusion of equities analysts at Macquarie of progress on the Forrestania and Cosmos nickel projects, which IGO paid $1.3 billion for last year. The disclosure that IGO would be writing off those projects has wiped $1 billion from the company’s market capitalisation. IGO shares fell another 3.8 per cent on Tuesday to close at $14.82, down 58¢.