The Philippine Nickel Industry Association is urging government to promote predictable regulations and ease the process of securing permits to attract more investments in mining, particularly for value-added nickel processing.
“While there is a lot of interest in the Philippines as a mining investment destination, we need to convince investors that the business environment is ready and conducive for their entry to the country,” said PNIA president Dante Bravo.
He said the government should set up a one-stop shop for handling mining permits, which could cut the process to as short as six months from the current five-year to 10-year process.
Bravo said the government should not just focus on attracting investments for value-added processing in view of the expected increase in demand for nickel as raw material for the production of batteries for electric vehicles, but help the industry develop additional nickel supply since a processing plant will require more than 100 million tons of nickel ore over 20 years to be considered viable.
A processing plant with an annual capacity of at least 5 million tons of nickel ore will require investment of at least $1.5 billion, a stable and affordable source of energy, efficient logistics, and highly-skilled technical staff.
“We can push for value-added processing without mitigating uncertainties in minerals exploration and extraction because all of these are integral parts of the minerals development value chain,” Bravo said.
Currently, the more than 30 mines operating in the country could only potentially supply 50 tons of nickel ore. These mines produced 29.2 million tons of nickel ore
last year, but because of increased rainfall earlier this year the output for 2023 could prove lower than the level in 2022, Bravo said.
