Nickel Asia Corporation (NAC) recorded an attributable net income of Php7.81 billion for 2021, up 91% from Php4.07 billion in 2020.
The increase was attributed to higher ore sales. NAC sold a total of 17.94 million wet metric tons (WMT) of nickel ore in 2021.
Breaking down the ore sales, the company exported 10.79 million WMT of saprolite and limonite ore to customers in Japan and China at the average price of $40.40 per WMT in 2021 compared to 10.02 million WMT at $33.99 per WMT in 2020.
Likewise, NAC delivered 7.14 million WMT of limonite ore to the Coral Bay and Taganito HPAL plants, the prices of which are linked to the LME, and realized an average price of $8.36 per pound of payable nickel as against 8.18 million WMT at $6.22 per pound of payable nickel in 2020. Expressed in US Dollar per WMT, deliveries to the two HPAL plants generated $12.11 and $8.33 per WMT in 2021 and 2020, respectively.
The two HPAL plants also contributed Php557.9 million in 2021 as compared to the Php 190.4 million in the previous year. The HBAL plants produce mixed sulfide then export these minerals to the Niihama Nickel Refinery and Harima Refinery in Japan.
“The surging demand for nickel fueled by a doubling in sales of electric vehicles and strong growth in stainless steel production coupled with lower than expected nickel production, particularly out of Indonesia, resulted in a nickel deficit of about 150,000 tonnes rather than a projected surplus. This has clearly been a significant tailwind for the global nickel industry and for us,” Nickel Asia President and CEO Martin Zamora said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Nickel Asia’s renewable energy business, Emerging Power, Inc. (EPI) – through subsidiary Jobin-SQM, Inc. (JSI) – is looking to expand its Mt. Sta Rita Solar Power Project in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone from 62 megawatts (MW) to 100MW by the second quarter.
