Nickel Asia Corp., a listed natural resources development company, reported Thursday attributable net income of P1.7 billion in the first half of the year, down 55 percent from P3.8 billion in the year-earlier period due to lower nickel and cobalt prices.
Were its equity interest in the Coral Bay and Taganito high-pressure acid leach (HPAL) projects excluded, Nickel Asia’s net income would have been down 33 percent to P1.8 billion. The combined loss incurred by the HPAL plants were traced to lower metal nickel and cobalt prices year-on-year.
Revenue for the period was also down 8 percent to P10.9 billion from P11.8 billion. Operating mines sold a combined 7.52 million wet metric tons of nickel ore, an improvement of 8 percent compared to the same period the year prior.
It exported 3.66 million WMT of saprolite and limonite ore at the average price of $28.22/WMT during the period against 3.12 million WMT at $42.05/WMT from the previous year.
Nickel Asia delivered 3.86 million WMT of limonite ore to the Coral Bay and Taganito HPAL plants, realizing an average price of $10.13 per pound of payable nickel for the first six months of the year. This compares to only 3.83 million WMT at $12.52 per pound of payable nickel in the same period of the previous year.
As a result, the weighted average nickel ore sales price during the period decreased by 26 percent to $22.32/WMT from $30.03/WMT last year. The company realized P55.33 per US dollar from nickel ore sales, a 5-percent increase from P52.56 year-on-year.
It registered a loss from its combined equity interests in the two HPAL plants in the amount of P77.4 million against a profit of P1.1 billion the year prior.
“We may have already seen the bottom of nickel ore prices for this year in the second quarter. The recent pledges from China to bolster their economy will provide a boost to their economic situation and will contribute to drive the demand for Indonesia’s incremental nickel supply,” said Martin Antonio Zamora, president and chief executive officer of Nickel Asia.
He said the increasing trend for electric vehicle usage remains a bright spot for the company’s nickel mining business.
Meantime, Nickel Asia’s renewable energy unit Emerging Power Inc. reported strong results from its power generation subsidiary Jobin-SQM Inc.
Jobin-SQM increased its electricity generation by 54 percent to 76,375-megawatt hours and revenues by 81 percent to P390.6 million, operating at 100-megaWatt-peak since adding an additional 38-MWp in July 2022.
JSI is currently constructing an additional 72-MWp solar farm at its Sta. Rita site, which is scheduled to go online by the fourth quarter this year.
