Consunji Group’s DMCI Holdings Inc. expects its mining business to face a rough year due to low nickel supply despite the lifting of suspension on one of its subsidiaries, Berong Nickel Corp., and the nickel industry’s optimistic view of 2019.
DMCI Mining president Cesar Simbulan said in a disclosure on Thursday, March 21, that their inventory is “nearly depleted”, a complete contrast to the optimistic outlook of the nickel industry which gets high demand for e-vehicle batteries, stainless steel, and other industries.
Simbulan also indicated in the said disclosure that DMCI Mining “will be shipping mostly lower grade nickel which fetches a lower price in the market.”
Last year, the company posted a 22 percent improvement on their production, shipping 643,000 wet metric tons (WMT) of nickel ore from 2017’s 525,000 WTM.
An average grade of 1.57 percent for its nickel ore shipments is expected for the company this year which is lower compared to 2018’s 1.70 percent.
On a standalone basis, DMCI Mining recorded a 93-percent surge in net income from P99 million in 2017 to P190 million the following year.
Meanwhile, DMCI Mining is working for its other subsidiary, the Zambales Diversified Metals Corp. (ZDMC), to reopen.
The company countered the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ (DENR) closure order on their nickel asset in Zambales through an appeal giving ZDMC partial grant to operate after they meet certain conditions.
Said conditions are rehabilitation and reforestation of the mine site as well as managing nearby environmental structure. The firm said an action plan addressing these conditions had already been submitted to the DENR and still waiting for a positive response.
DMCI Mining’s Zambales site attributed to 213,000 WMT of nickel ore shipments of the company while the remaining 430,000 WMT came from old stockpile of their Berong mine.
