In the fourth quarter of 2019, the adjusted EBITDA of the base metals business was $2.174 billion, compared with $2.542 billion in 2018. The main reasons for the decrease of EBITDA include VNC plant, on ç a The cost of Puma and sossego plants increased (US $387 million), the real price of cobalt products decreased (US $157 million), the real price of copper products decreased (US $45 million) and the cost increased (US $73 million). The increase in the cost mainly comes from the research costs related to hu'u project. This was partially offset by favourable exchange rate movements ($132 million), an increase in the real price of nickel products ($81 million) and an increase in the real price of gold products ($76 million).
The operational reliability of the nickel plant is increasing as the copper cliff nickel refinery in Sudbury, clydach, Matsuzaka and Changgang nickel refineries return to normal production after planned and unplanned maintenance. In addition, the production of the onsabuma mining area and the plant was resumed after judicial authorization in September.
The salobo plant has been operating steadily over the past year, supporting the performance of the copper business. Despite the impact of unscheduled maintenance at the soesegu plant, the unit cash cost of the copper business after by-product removal in the second half of 2019 was close to zero.
In the fourth quarter of 2019, the adjusted EBITDA of the base metals business was $649 million compared with $555 million in the previous quarter, mainly due to the increase in the actual price of nickel and copper ($139 million), the increase in by-product sales ($100 million) and favorable exchange rate changes ($8 million), but the increase in cost ($78 million), the decrease in nickel and copper sales ($42 million) ）This was partially offset by an increase in costs ($33 million), which was mainly due to the cost of work stoppages at the sosegu plant due to unscheduled maintenance.
In the fourth quarter of 2019, the average actual price of nickel was $16251 / T, which was $801 / T higher than the average nickel price of $15450 / T on the London Metal Exchange over the same period, mainly due to the impact of sales at lagging prices (US $439 / T), the average nickel price was falling throughout the fourth quarter; and favorable hedge plan settlement (US $279 / T), which reflected London metal The exchange price is lower than the base price of the leading hedging structure (15714 USD / ton).
