It is reported that MacroAsia Corporation and Jinchuan Group Limited of China will invest about USD 1 billion in a mining project in Palawan.
MacroAsia said that it signed an agreement with Jinchuan, China's biggest nickel refiner, during the recent state visit of President Mr Benigno Aquino III in Beijing.
The company said that "The estimated value of investments by both MacroAsia and Jinchuan is about USD 1 billion. Said investment is the total amount involved over the life of the project when the plant and other processing facilities are in place."
MacroAsia has proposed to Jinchuan to consider value added investment in Palawan instead of direct ore shipments. The two companies agreed to study the proposal.
MacroAsia said that Jinchuan in 2007 started conducting due diligence studies on the company’s 1,114 hectare nickel mine site in Brookes Point in Palawan.
The due diligence was an offshoot of talks between Tan and Jinchuan chairman Mr Li Yong Jun as part of then President Ms Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's state visit to China in November 2006.
MacroAsia, which is engaged in aviation related services, inherited its mining rights from Cobertson Holdings Corporation, formerly Infanta Mineral and Industrial Corporation.
In 2006, MacroAsia obtained a Mineral Production Sharing Agreement from the Mines and Geosciences Bureau covering 1,114 hectares of land in Brookes Point in Palawan. This gave MacroAsia exclusive right to explore, develop and utilize for commercial purposes nickel, chromite, iron and other associated mineral deposits that may be found in the area. The MPSA covers a maximum period of 25 years and is renewable for another term not exceeding 25 years.
The Jinchuan Group is a large integrated non ferrous metallurgical and chemical engineering enterprise engaged in mining, concentrating, metallurgy and chemical engineering.
It produces nickel, copper, cobalt, rare and precious metals and some chemical products such as sulfuric acid, caustic soda, liquid chlorine, hydrochloric acid and sodium sulfite, together with some further processed non-ferrous metals products.
(Sourced from www.manilastandardtoday.com)
