[Ferro-Alloys.com] 

Top Philippine nickel miners may spend $2bn in new plants

The Philippines’ two biggest nickel producers are planning to invest about $1-billion each to build processing plants, the companies’ top executives said, boosting the government’s push to develop the Southeast Asian nation’s downstream mineral industry.

Nickel Asia Corp. is eyeing a third high-pressure acid leaching plant near a mining project in Pujada peninsula in southern Davao Oriental province where it is in “final negotiations” to acquire the rights to operate it, president and CEO Martin Antonio Zamora said in an interview on Wednesday on the sidelines of a mining conference in Manila.

Global Ferronickel Holdings is in talks with a Chinese firm for its first HPAL facility with a capacity of about 40 000 metric tons to be constructed near its mines in southern Surigao province, president Dante Bravo said in a separate interview. He declined to identify the company, citing a non-disclosure agreement, but said the project will require at least $1-billion investment.

The Philippines, the world’s second-largest nickel supplier to top market China, has been pushing miners to invest in processing facilities instead of just shipping out raw ore to become a major player in the electric-vehicle supply chain. The country is considering following top nickel exporter Indonesia by taxing nickel ore exports to lure investment in processing plants.

About Nickel Asia

Nickel Asia, partly owned by Japan’s Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., runs the Philippines’ only two processing plants for the metal used to make stainless steel and batteries for electric vehicles.

• [Editor:邢亚敏]