MANILA, Philippines — Listed MacroAsia Corp. plans to spend $12.9 million to revive the company’s mining business by developing its nickel mine in Palawan.
In a filing with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Environmental Management Bureau (DENR-EMB), MacroAsia said it is revisiting the Infanta Nickel Project (INP), which was granted a mineral production sharing agreement (MPSA) covering 1,113.98 hectares in the municipality of Brooke’s Point, Palawan.
Incorporated in 1970 as Infanta Mineral and Industrial Corp, MacroAsia then was primarily engaged in geological exploration and development.
INP extracted nickel in the form of laterite ore as the primary commodity and shipped it to Japan at that time.
MacroAsia, however, transformed into a holding company in 1996 and is presently engaged in aviation-related support businesses through its subsidiaries and associates.
On July 29, 2021, MacroAsia’s unit MacroAsia Mining Corp. (MMC) signed a memorandum of agreement with Calmia Nickel Inc. (CNI) for the exploration and eventual mining operations of the Infanta Nickel Project.
In reviving its mining business, MacroAsia cited the upward trend of the nickel market based on the London Metal Exchange (LME) inventories in the face of a changing global economy.
“(MacroAsia) believes that nickel market will rebound and stabilize and that will push this project forward and bring the INP mineral property into full commercial production,” it said.
The company intends to extract nickel ore – laterite blend, saprolite and limonite, which will then be sold to foreign markets namely Japan, Australia and China.
Initial estimates show the project has a mine life of about 10 years, based on the measured ore resources of 10.818 million DMT.
The company estimates an average mining footprint of 10 hectares per year over the 10-year period.
However, MacroAsia believes that it the project has enough resources to sustain a mine life of over 20 years with further exploration of the mining area.
The planned mine production is estimated at 660,000 dry metric tons (DMT) of ore per year, or equivalent to one million wet metric tons (WMT) of ore at an average moisture of 34 percent.
This will help the company generate $56.79 million per year, MacroAsia said.
Of the gross income, the company estimates to pay $2.27 million in average annual excise tax and $8.05 million in average annual income tax to the government.
Meanwhile, the projected annual share of the government – inclusive of the excise tax, income tax and local government taxes and fees – is approximately $10.89 million.
MacroAsia also said the locality of Brooke’s Point is expected to benefit directly in terms of local employment and community development through the Social Development and Management Program (SDMP), averaging $193,587 per year.
It also cited a royalty payment of $567,000 – equivalent to one percent of gross revenue of the project – to Indigenous Peoples (IP) around the impact areas.