Florjenmar Mining and Development Corp. (FMDC) is seeking regulatory approval for the development of its Gutalac nickel project in the Zamboanga Peninsula, documents submitted to the Environmental Management Bureau show.
The development is estimated to cost P1.7 billion over a seven-year lifespan. Its mining site is 200 kilometers (km) northeast of Zamboanga City, 70 km northwest of the town of Ipil and 170 km southwest of Dipolog City.
FMDC has secured an exploration permit extending over 5,426.57 hectares, 114.50 of which covers the proposed mining component under the company’s environmental compliance certificate application.
The company projects an ore extraction rate of 500,000 metric tons per year and a staff of 400 assorted personnel and workers at the mine site.
FMDC said it has exclusive rights for laterite nickel used in the production of stainless steel and batteries, in the vicinity of Gutalac, Zamboanga del Norte discovered in early 1990s.
The site’s shallow deposits and the marketability of both limonite and saprolite ores makes for the project to be simple open cast or bench mining.
According to data from the Mines and Geosciences Bureau, nickel ore and nickel products and mixed nickel-cobalt sulfide and scandium oxalate were the second biggest contributors to metallic mineral production in the first quarter this year worth P23.85 billion or 40.48 percent.
This was 22.83 percent more or P58.92 billion compared to only P47.97 billion in first quarter last year.
