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Nickel Asia to bring two more mines into production in 3
years
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Top Philippine miner to assess viability of another HPAL
plant
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Renewable energy unit aims for 1 GW capacity, sees IPO in
3 yrs
(Adds feasibility study on HPAL plant, comment)
By Enrico Dela Cruz
MANILA, April 24 (Reuters) - Nickel Asia Corp ,
the Philippines' biggest nickel ore producer, expects to bring
two more mines into production in three years and will assess
the feasibility of building another processing plant, its chief
executive said on Monday.
In an interview with Reuters, president and CEO Martin
Antonio Zamora said the miner, which partly owns the
Philippines' only two nickel ore processing plants, is also
looking to ramp up investment in a renewable energy business,
before undertaking an initial public offering for it, hopefully
in three years.
Nickel Asia, which is partly owned by Sumitomo Metal Mining
Co Ltd , is targeting annual nickel ore production of at
least 4 million wet metric tonnes (WMT) from the Bulanjao mine,
near its existing Rio Tuba mining site in the southwestern
Palawan province, and at least 2 million WMT from Manicani mine
in central Samar province.
It also aims to increase ore shipments from its Dinapigue
mine in northeastern Isabela province and is looking to develop
the Kepha site, near its existing Taganito mine in southern
Surigao del Norte province, which will have an initial annual
production of 2 million WMT
The miner sold 15.93 million WMT of nickel ore last year
from its four existing mines, down 11.2% compared with its 2021
sales volume due to unfavourable weather.
The Philippines, a major nickel ore supplier to top metals
consumer China, wants to woo investment in domestic processing
of the material used in making stainless steel and electric
vehicle batteries, and to boost the value of its exports.
Nickel Asia is set to conduct due diligence covering two
potential nickel mining sites in southern Davao Oriential
province, under a recently forged deal with two domestic
companies, Zamora said.
The deal includes a study to determine the economic and
technical viability of a high pressure acid leaching (HPAL)
plant for ore processing, which may take at least one year.
If feasible, construction of the HPAL plant could take two
to three years, he said.
Nickel Asia will finance its expansion plan with internal
cash or through a follow-on offering, he said.
The miner's Emerging Power Inc (EPI) subsidiary, which has
about 200 megawatts of renewable energy capacity, has entered
into a joint venture with Shell Overseas Investments BV to
develop up to 1 gigawatt of renewable energy capacity by 2028.
"Ideally we should have about maybe 600 plus megawatts of
either installed capacity or being developed, and then we can go
to the market (for EPI's IPO) ... hopefully in the next three
years," Zamora said.
(Reporting by Enrico Dela Cruz; Editing by Martin Petty, Robert
Birsel)
