ABORLAN, Palawan — DMCI Mining Corp. a wholly-owned subsidiary of listed DMCI Holdings, Inc., expects to hit its nickel ore production target this year following strong shipments from its Palawan and Zambales mines.
“We’re on track for this year, for 3 million [metric tons]. That was our target,” DMCI Mining President Tulsi Das Reyes told reporters late Wednesday.
“[W]e were able to ship out 1 million tons in three months in Palawan and Zambales is already at 1.6 million tons for the year. I’m quite confident we’ll hit everything,” he added.
The company has one active mining site in Palawan, Long Point, and two in Zambales run by Zambales Diversified Metals Corp. and Zambales Chromite Mining Co.
The 2,177-hectare Long Point mining site, which started commercial operations last March and is managed by Berong Nickel Corp., has an estimated mine life of 18 years.
“We [are] continuously exploring our Long Point assets and its surroundings,” Reyes said.
“[I]n this mine site, we feel we can become one of the most profitable mine sites in the country,” he added.
For the Zambales chromite site, Reyes said DMCI was planning to scale up production.
“[W]e’re hoping to get [an] additional 1 million tons,” he said.
“The weather’s been somewhat good so far, but Zambales, [it] has been raining quite hard so we have a seasonal stop, which we normally do in the month and then we’ll start off in [the fourth quarter],” he said.
“Palawan will be experiencing high waves so we’ll naturally stop. Maybe a few shipments left to end the year.”
Reyes also expressed confidence about higher shipments to Indonesia and China.
“The need for [nickel in] Indonesia is quite large,” he said.
“I think they’re short about 60 to 70 million tons. The Philippines [also] does about 60 to 70 million tons a year. But that does not all go to Indonesia. We also send to China,” he added.
“The first half of the year was all Indonesia. The second half moving forward is looking like China will get majority of our [exports]. But at the end of the day, it’s all China.”
DMCI Mining delivered a record P1.3 billion in earnings in the second quarter, nearly four times the P344 million posted a year earlier, following strong shipment volumes and the full-quarter contribution of the Long Point mine.
Shares of the parent company DMCI Holdings on Thursday added P0.07, or 0.91 percent, to close at P7.75 each.