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DMCI Mining Corp., the newly incorporated mining arm of the DMCI
group, seeks a technical partner for its venture into ferro-nickel
exploration in Zambales in a bid for more value-added exports.
“When we export nickel, we get about 17
percent of the value of the metal, but when we have ferro-nickel, we
get about 100 percent,” Isidro Consunji, DMCI Holdings Inc.
president, said.
He said the “value added by ferro-nickel comes
to about five times, apart from providing a lot of employment.”
The mining firm is looking for a technical
partner, “probably Chinese,” for its diversification program,
Consunji told reporters. He said the Chinese are most aggressive in
pursuing new sources of nickel and iron since a quarter of the
world’s demand for the metals come from their end.
To process the ores, the company will have to
construct a kiln and electric furnace within 24 months at a cost of
at least $60 million. Consunji said DMCI-MC can easily tap
commercial bank loans for additional cash to fund the construction.
The potential Chinese partner will only provide
technical infusion since “we want to share equity with the other
miners,” he said.
DMCI-MC ships nickel ores to China, with the
last shipment on April 18 totaling 54 metric tons valued at $2.8
million. It was the company’s fourth shipment but the first with
high-grade nickel content at 1.7 percent nickel.
In May last year, the Securities and Exchange
Commission approved the incorporation of DMCI-MC, which is engaged
in ore and mineral explorations and other mining-related activities
with an initial paid-up capital of P10 million. Its holding company
formed a joint venture company with the Australian mining firm,
Rusina Mining Ltd., wherein 60 percent would be owned by DMCI and 40
percent by Rusina.
The firm’s Acoje project in Sta. Cruz,
Zambales, is a multi-layered mineral deposit hosting chromite,
nickel and platinum group metals. With the agreement, DMCI would
initially pay $2.5 million to become Rusina’s Philippine partner
in the entire Acoje Project. This would give the company a
10-percent interest in Acoje, with first right of refusal over
existing claim owners’ 10-percent residual interest.
Under the joint venture mining agreement, all
properties of the two companies, except for Rusina’s Acoje project
and its EPA’s, would be sold into the joint venture that includes
the firms’ Mindanao Copper/Gold projects.
-- Likha C. Cuevas-Miel
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