Atlas Consolidated may reopen Berong mine in Palawan

Listed Atlas Consolidated Mining and Development Corp. may reopen its nickel mine in Southern Luzon this year to take advantage of the recovery in nickel prices, company executives said. The miner might also set up a processing plant to add value to the nickel ores they sell. "I think they are going to resume soon... The interest in nickel is starting [to go up] again," Atlas Consolidated Chairman Alfredo C. Ramos said in an interview. "Hopefully we will be mining again soon," he added. In February last year, the listed miner closed its Berong nickel mine in Palawan, laying off more than 600 workers and retaining only 50 employees, due to low metal prices as a result of soft demand. Prices of nickel — a key ingredient in steel-making and one of the country’s main mineral exports — rose to $8.13 per pound late last week from $6 per pound in the first quarter of last year, data from the London Metal Exchange showed. Ramos said that if Berong Nickel Corp. resumes operations, the miner would still ship nickel ores to traditional markets like Japan, South Korea and China. Berong Nickel is a joint venture composed of European Nickel Plc, Atlas Consolidated and Toledo Mining Corp., which is listed in London. In 2008, Berong Nickel’s nickel shipment dropped by a tenth to 476,850 metric tones (MT) of nickel ore from 2007 levels. Berong Nickel has a supply agreement with BHP Billiton, the world’s largest miner, for shipment of 500,000 MT of nickel ore yearly until 2013. Atlas Consolidated will also study the viability of putting up a nickel processing plant. "Our ambition is not only to be mining nickel ore but also processing metal ore so we can have a value-added product," Martin C. Buckingham, executive vice-president and chief finance officer of Atlas Consolidated, said in a phone interview. The Berong Nickel mine, the world’s fourth-largest nickel laterite resource, still has about 275 million MT of nickel ores ready to be extracted, Buckingham said. A nickel processing plant will mean a significant investment for the miner. For instance, the proposed processing plant of listed Century Peak Metals Holdings Corp. in Dinagat Island will cost P2-P3 billion, while Sumitomo Metal Mining Co. Ltd. Asia will invest $2.257 billion for a nickel processing plant in Surigao del Norte. Buckingham said they might get partners for the processing plant. Atlas Consolidated and European Nickel might share technical information in the construction of a processing plant, he added. Separately, Berong Nickel shareholder European Nickel has merged with Australia’s Rusina Mining NL so it can spend half-a-billion dollars on a nickel leach plant at the Acoje mine in Zambales.