Pasar pins hopes on P7.5-B cobalt recovery plant project in Rio Tuba

The proposed $150-million nickel (P7.5 billion) and cobalt recovery plant in southern Palawan could be a boon to copper smelting operations in Leyte.

This is if the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) requires the plant being built by Filipino-Japanese-owned Rio Tuba Nickel Mining Corp. (RTNMC) in Bataraza town, Palawan to source sulfuric acid needed for its operations from the Philippine Associated Smelting and Refinery Corp. (Pasar) based in Isabel town, Leyte.

RTNMC is seeking government permission to set up a hydrometallurgical process plant (HPP) in Bgy. Rio Tuba, Bataraza to process some 22 million metric tons of low-grade nickel ore now lying idle at the company’s mine in Rio Tuba. To process this, RTNMC will be needing 270,000 MT of sulfuric acid annually to extract quality nickel and cobalt.

Pasar produces 450,000 MT of sulfuric acid as a by-product of copper smelting yearly. Its inventory of the hazardous waste has been growing continuously ever since fertilizer maker Philippine Phosphate Fertilizer Corp. (Philphos)., which is also based in Isabel, Leyte, ceased withdrawing sulfuric acid from Pasar due to reduced production resulting from a slump in demand for fertilizer in the world market.

The build-up of sulfuric acid in Pasar is not only threatening the sustainability of its plant operations but is also posing a great risk to the environment and the health and safety of its workers and residents of the adjoining communities.

Ever since its privatization in 1999, the new owners have impressively turned around Pasar, operated by government for 16 years. Pasar broke into new markets worldwide and started fetching higher premiums for its copper cathodes. Major investments in modernizing the plant have been made especially for environment-protection facilities. Operating costs have been reduced significantly as corruption was stumped with the privatization. The only snag in the otherwise model privatization is the sudden problem of sulfuric acid disposal.

The HPP project, a joint venture of RTNMC with Sumitomo Metals of Japan, was intending to source its sulfuric acid requirements from Japan. Pasar, however, has appealed to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, that in issuing the environmental compliance certificate for the project, the sulfuric acid supply be sourced domestically especially with the glut in supplies.