At a forum held by the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines, Gerard Brimo, president of Nickel Asia Corporation(NAC) announced that the company, together with its partners including Sumitomo Metal Mining (SMM), will invest a total of $1.4 billion to build a second nickel plant in the Philippines.
Construction has already begun and the new plant will start production in mid-2013. NAC has a 22.5 percent stake in the new project, while SMM, Japan's largest nickel producer, has a 55 percent stake.
The new nickel plant will be located beside NAC's Taganito mining operations in Surigao del Norte. It will use high pressure acid leach (HPAL) technology in processing limonite or low-grade nickel ore.