Wellex to sell assets to fund mining ventures

Gatchalian-owned Wellex Industries Inc. will sell some of its assets to raise funds for its planned mining exploration projects, according to a top company official.

At the company’s stockholders’ meeting yesterday, Wellex president and chief executive officer Weslie T. Gatchalian said the firm plans to dispose of “dilapidated” equipment at its warehouse in Valenzuela.

Wellex has diversified into the highly lucrative mining and oil exploration sectors from manufacturing and warehousing.

Gatchalian said management plans to build Wellex into a strong listed mining company. 

Another unit, Wellex Mining, continues to hold talks with two Chinese companies to jointly develop a portion of its chromite mine site in Dinagat Island, located on the southern area of Leyte Gulf.

Gatchalian said the prospective Chinese investors are end-users with processing plants located in various provinces in China. 

He said plans include the establishment of a joint venture company in the Philippines to serve as the corporate vehicle for the proposed project.

Gatchalian said Wellex Mining is bent on pursuing the development of its 2,400- hectare chromite property in Dinagat Island despite the sharp drop in the prices of industrial metals and other minerals. 

Wellex Mining owns exploration rights on a total of 3,700 hectares in Dinagat Island. It has already blocked 350 hectares of chromatic area with a tonnage of 250,000- dry metric ton of chromite ore averaging 50 percent. As part of its aggressive moves for the development of the area, simultaneous constructions at the facility are now being undertaken.

The group is planning to export nickel and chromite to China, the world’s largest user of steel.

Funding for the group’s mining exploration activities will come from internally-generated cash, Gatchalian said.