Nickel Industries (ASX:NIC) said the ramp-up of its Excelsior Nickel Cobalt HPAL project in Central Sulawesi, Indonesia has been interrupted by dry conditions that have constrained water supply to the operation, according to a Tuesday Australian bourse filing.

The company said nickel ore sales from the Hengjaya Mine for July and August totaled 3.1 million wet metric tonnes, with a record 1.6 million wet metric tonnes in August and record earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) for August of AU$28.2 million, with combined July and August adjusted EBITDA from operations of about $90 million.

Excelsior has received an exemption from a regulation introduced earlier this year restricting the export of mixed hydroxide precipitate, opening the path to the issuance of an industrial business license (IUI) for all of Excelsior's products, with the company expecting the IUI to be received in October, which will permit commercial sales of the full product suite including nickel and cobalt in cathode and sulphate, it added.