http://www.malaya.com.ph/jul12/busi1.htm
HONG KONG—The shuttered Nonoc mine in the Philippines with capacity to produce 41,000 tons of nickel annually could be revived by 2008 under a new debt accord arranged by China’s Jinchuan Group Ltd., the Philippine government and mine owner Philinico Industrial Corp.
Under a memorandum of understanding, the three parties agreed to a debt settlement which will allow China’s largest nickel producer to speed up plans to revive the complex, a company official said.
He said the memorandum had been approved by the Baosteel Group, Jinchuan’s partner on the Nonoc project and the China Development Bank, which would provide financing to the project.
Baosteel, China’s biggest steel firm, and the bank are also shareholders of Jinchuan.
Jinchuan and Baosteel agreed to invest $1 billion to revive the Nonoc complex last April but there has been little progress since then.
Philnico has sought to settle some $300 million of debts that stemmed from the mid-1990s when the company bought Nonoc Mining from the Philippine government.
Jinchuan and Philnico are also in talks on a transfer of the mining rights.
Jinchuan and Baosteel would finalize a report to revive the Nonoc complex, another Jinchuan official said.
Baosteel, the parent of listed Baoshan Iron and Steel Co. Ltd., is also China’s second largest stainless steel producer after Shanxi Taigang Stainless Steel Co. Ltd., which uses nickel as a shining and strengthening agent for the output.
Jinchuan operates China’s largest nickel mine in Gansu but still needs to import raw material because of expanded capacity.
The firm aimed to produce 120,000 tons of nickel this year, out of its capacity of 150,000 tons a year, the first official said. It produced 90,100 tons last year. -Reuter
