Nickel Asia Corporation has bagged the right to be the exclusive mining service contractor for two properties in Davao Oriental that have already been issued Mineral Production Sharing Agreements.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Nickel Asia said Hallmark Mining Corporation and Austral-Asia Link Mining Corporation have accepted NAC’s Letter of Intent (LOI).
The LOI will make NAC or its wholly-owned subsidiary the sole and exclusive mining service contractor for Hallmark’s MPSA covering 4,999.71 hectares located in Mati and San Isidro, Davao Oriental.
It will also be the sole contractor for Austral-Asia’s MPSA covering 5,000 hectares located in Mati and Gov. Generoso, Davao Oriental.
“NAC’s commitments under the LOI are subject to NAC’s conduct of due diligence and exploration activities as well as the execution of definitive agreements among the parties,” the firm said.
It added tat, “The LOI also permits the conduct of a feasibility study to determine the economic and technical viability for NAC to establish a High Pressure Acid Leach (HPAL) or equivalent mineral processing plant within the MPSA area.”
Nickel Asia posted a 12 percent improvement in its unaudited attributable net income to P6.90 billion in the first nine months of 2022 from the P6.17 billion earned in the same period in 2021.
The firm said that, despite the lower ore sales volume sold during the period, revenues inched up 2 percent to P21.51 billion from P21.03 billion in 2021, owed largely to higher nickel ore prices and favorable exchange rates.
NAC’s five operating mines sold a combined 12.44 million wet metric tons (WMT) of nickel ore during the first nine months of last year, a decrease of 14 percent from 14.44 million WMT in the same period in 2021.
The drop in sales volume was almost in direct proportion to unrealized workable days caused by unfavorable weather that adversely affected the Company’s mining operations during the period.
The weighted average nickel ore sales price during the period increased by 5 percent to $29.46 per WMT against $28.05 per WMT in the same period of 2021. The company realized P54.22 per US dollar from these nickel ore sales, a 10-percent increase from P49.17 in 2021.