NEWS

By Kris Crismundo

INVESTMENT. CD Processing (Philippines) Inc. groundbreaking of its facility in Cebu. The company will be providing ore sortation solution to Carmen Copper Corp. (Photo from CD Processing Ltd. website)

British firm CD Processing Ltd. has invested PHP583 million in its ore sortation facility in Cebu, a pioneer project approved by the Board of Investment (BOI).

Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Undersecretary and BOI managing head Ceferino Rodolfo told the Philippine News Agency on the sidelines of the Make It Happen in the Philippines campaign Wednesday that the British firm’s unit here will be involved in reclaiming valuable copper-bearing ore from low-grade ore discarded by copper mines.

CD Processing (Philippines) Inc. will be providing ore sortation solution to Carmen Copper Corp. in Cebu, generating 63 jobs.

“This is now in the processing side, not only mining,” Rodolfo said.

Copper industry is identified as one of the five priority areas under the country-wide Make It Happen in the Philippines investment campaign launched by DTI early this week.

Aside from copper, other key sectors include aerospace, automotive, electronics, and information technology and business process management (ITBPM).

“These are the sectors which we believe would be able to bring investments,” Rodolfo said.

He added that the Make It Happen in the Philippines campaign also seeks to address the value chain gap of local sectors like the copper industry.

The country is one of the largest copper producers in the world, with reserves of around 4 billion metric tons.

In 2018, the country’s copper exports amounted to USD1.9 billion.

Apart from extracting and exporting copper only to import its finished products, the DTI eyes to attract investments in processing, wire rod casting facilities, and manufacturing of higher-value copper-based products.

Rodolfo said the DTI will be launching the Leyte Ecological Industrial Zone (LEIZ) Program next month.

LEIZ Program aims put up integrated copper processing facilities through industry clustering.

It will also capitalize on the existing capabilities and infrastructure in the province of Leyte, which has the Leyte Industrial Development Estate that houses two international ports.

These ports can service panamaxes of up to 60,000 to 70,000 tons.

Source: Philippine News Agency