MANILA, Philippines – Lucio Tan-led MacroAsia Corp. said on Wednesday its joint investments with China’s Jinchuan Group Ltd in a nickel mine in southwestern Palawan province may reach $1 billion.
Diversified group MacroAsia said in a disclosure to the stock exchange it had signed a memorandum of agreement with Jinchuan in Beijing during President Benigno Aquino’s state visit last week.
Jinchuan, China’s top nickel producer and third-biggest copper producer, said on Monday it was investing in two laterite mines in the Philippines and would partner with MacroAsia and the Zamora group for the projects.
“The estimated value of investments by both MAC (MacroAsia) and Jinchuan is about $1 billion. Said investment is the total amount involved over the life of the project when the plant and other processing facilities are in place,” MacroAsia said.
“MAC has proposed that Jinchuan … consider value-added investment in Palawan instead of just direct shipment operations. They have agreed to study the value- added approach to the development of southern Palawan resources,” it said.
Laterite is the ore for the production of nickel-pig-iron (NPI) and ferro-nickel. Both NPI and ferro-nickel are used for the production of stainless steel.
China is the world’s top producer of NPI, a low grade ferro-nickel with high iron content, and relies on imported laterite ores for NPI production. The Philippines was China’s second-largest supplier of nickel ore and concentrate imports after Indonesia in the first seven months of 2011.
Shares of MacroAsia jumped 6.6% on Wednesday, with trading volume jumping to 2.4 million shares, more than 13 times its 30-day average trading volume.
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By: Reuters
Source: abscbnnews.com, Sept. 7, 2011
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