Chinese to pursue Surigao nickel project
CHINA’S JINCHUAN Group Ltd. has renewed its interest to pursue a proposal to invest as much as $1.5 billion in the rehabilitation of the Nonoc nickel mines in Surigao province, according to an industry official.
Benjamin Philip Romualdez, president of the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines, told reporters Tuesday that talks between Jinchuan and Philnico Industrial Corp. have started.
Romualdez disclosed that the president of Jinchuan personally told him during the China Asean Mining Forum that aside from the Nonoc nickel mine, the company would likewise pursue other prospective mining projects in the country.
He added that the $1.5 billion was an earlier estimate made by the Chinese firm. This amount included a refinery as well.
Exclusive negotiations between Philnico and Jinchuan bogged down in January 2007 because the prospective Chinese investor insisted on doing another feasibility study.
Philnico president Evaristo M. Narvaez Jr. earlier said that the study would push back the project’s launch by six to 12 months without any assurance of a definitive agreement.
Narvaez earlier noted that when Jinchuan officially terminated negotiations, Philnico received offers from investors from Russia, Japan, Canada and other Chinese mining companies, all of which were in the advanced stages of due-diligence work on the project.
But by May of the same year, Philnico announced that it welcomed the offer of Jinchuan to further improve its previous proposal to invest $1 billion in the rehabilitation of the Nonoc nickel mines.
Located on Nonoc Island off Surigao City, the nickel mine is touted to hold one of the biggest nickel and cobalt resources in Southeast Asia. The Nonoc mine, which has about 60 million metric tons of nickel ore reserves, halted operations in 1982 due to high energy costs.
Philnico is 55-percent owned by Hong-Kong based Compline Resources Co., 30 percent by Australia’s Pacific Energy Ltd. and the rest by local investors. (inquirer)
Benjamin Philip Romualdez, president of the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines, told reporters Tuesday that talks between Jinchuan and Philnico Industrial Corp. have started.
Romualdez disclosed that the president of Jinchuan personally told him during the China Asean Mining Forum that aside from the Nonoc nickel mine, the company would likewise pursue other prospective mining projects in the country.
He added that the $1.5 billion was an earlier estimate made by the Chinese firm. This amount included a refinery as well.
Exclusive negotiations between Philnico and Jinchuan bogged down in January 2007 because the prospective Chinese investor insisted on doing another feasibility study.
Philnico president Evaristo M. Narvaez Jr. earlier said that the study would push back the project’s launch by six to 12 months without any assurance of a definitive agreement.
Narvaez earlier noted that when Jinchuan officially terminated negotiations, Philnico received offers from investors from Russia, Japan, Canada and other Chinese mining companies, all of which were in the advanced stages of due-diligence work on the project.
But by May of the same year, Philnico announced that it welcomed the offer of Jinchuan to further improve its previous proposal to invest $1 billion in the rehabilitation of the Nonoc nickel mines.
Located on Nonoc Island off Surigao City, the nickel mine is touted to hold one of the biggest nickel and cobalt resources in Southeast Asia. The Nonoc mine, which has about 60 million metric tons of nickel ore reserves, halted operations in 1982 due to high energy costs.
Philnico is 55-percent owned by Hong-Kong based Compline Resources Co., 30 percent by Australia’s Pacific Energy Ltd. and the rest by local investors. (inquirer)
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the road networks are topsy turvy or in other words not well planned road networks.
the fire trucks are limited.
even the basic need like water are sometimes dirty and even do not flow on saturdays and sundays.
the prizes of local foods are expensive even fish.
the local government do not encourage livelihood, instead they encourage to acquire loan.
Example the foreign investors are avoiding big investment in ore refinery because often the Filipino counterparts and politicians are sabotaging the operations because of greed and corruption.
The new trend is that the ore is shipped to another land and processed there, however the ore contains other precious metals aside from nickel there is copper, gold, iron and aluminum, all of this is unaccounted. Consider this mineral wealth as lost or rather stolen.
If there would be a mining operation there has to be a sustainable plan so when world prices for metals crash, they wont just shut down and leave an environmental disaster and people out of work.