NEWS

A Filipino miner uses a drill machine before blasting to extract boulders of ore in a mine tunnel some 700 meters (2,297 feet) under Mt. Santo Tomas in northern Benguet province. AFP

MANILA – The Philippine Nickel Industry Association (PNIA) is pushing for the creation of a roadmap for the local nickel mining industry to promote investments and enhance its competitiveness in the world market.

This, as the business group urges the government to create policies that will result in the establishment of more mineral plants that can process raw materials from nickel into finished products in the country.

“If we have the right policies, we can guarantee investments then we can provide competitive advantage. In putting out the roadmap, we are just opening the possibility to have a valuable environment to put up value-added processing,” PNIA President Dante Bravo said in a press briefing on the sidelines of the 2019 Nickel Initiative Conference held in Taguig City.

He urged the government to review policies that restrict mining operations in the country such as the ban on open pit mining and the limitation on areas to be mined depending on the volume of production.

“If you put up a value-added processing plant, it’s capital-intensive. You have to guarantee there is a sufficient reserve to support the plant and it requires exploration not just for one year but for a number of years and you can only do that through exploration. It has to be open,” according to Bravo.

The industry leader stressed that one of the major benefits that can be derived from mining nickel is the production of electric vehicles in the Philippines.

“Nickel is going to make electric vehicles cheaper; it’s going to be safer and efficient. That is the potential but for us to be ready towards that we need to have the right policies,” Bravo said.

The PNIA has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Electric Vehicle Association of the Philippines (EVAP) on the research and development of a nickel industry roadmap.

The e-vehicle industry is seen to be one of the leading industries that will drive the increase in demand for nickel in the country.

“Electric vehicles are the future. Our projection is an annual growth rate of 8 to 12 percent per year and this we should start talking about how we can utilize opportunities in this growing market. Battery technology is very crucial and we are thankful for this partnership as this supports the industry’s needs,” EVAP president Edmund Araga said.

For her part, Department of Trade and Industry undersecretary Rafaelita Aldaba said that the nickel industry roadmap will lead to an upgrade from lower-valued nickel ore and concentrates to higher value products that will enable the country to move along the global supply chain.

“The roadmap is important in order to understand what the barriers are and what the solutions should be. Strong collaboration between government, academe and industry would be needed for us not only to formulate the roadmap but more importantly once we start implementing it,” Aldaba said.

The PNIA is hoping to finalize the nickel industry roadmap within a year.

The Philippines is the second-largest producer of nickel in the world as it exported more than 90 percent of nickel ore to China and the rest to Japan from January to November last year according to the International Nickel Study Group.

However, nickel production is expected to decline this year due to a regulation of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources limiting the areas for mining operations.

Source: PanayNews.net