Pasar mulls putting up 60-MW coal-fired power plant in Leyte

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Associated Smelting and Refining Corp. (PASAR) is exploring the possibility of putting up a 60-megawatt (MW) coal-fired power plant, a top company official said.

PASAR chairman Angel Veloso Jr. said the company is currently scouting for partners for the planned power facility.

“We are willing to invest at our own cost but we need potential partners who will have the technical know-how,” he said.

He said they are holding exploratory talks with companies such as Global Power Corp. of the Metrobank Group and TeaM Energy Philippines, run by the consortium of Marubeni Corp., and Tokyo Electric Power Corp. for a possible partnership.

Veloso said the project will also utilize diesel. “It may be a combined-cycle, both coal and diesel as back-up,” he said.

The PASAR plant complex currently occupies 80 hectares in the 424-hectare Leyte Industrial Development Estate (LIDE).  

The refinery’s original capacity in 1983 of 138,000 metric tons per year (mtpy) of Grade A electrolytic copper cathodes was expanded to 172,500 mtpy in 1993 and further to 215,000 mtpy in 2007.

PASAR’s primary product is electrolytic copper cathode, which the company has been producing for 25 years. 

In 1984, PASAR as its original copper cathode brand was registered with the London Metal Exchange (LME) as Grade A copper and in the Commodity Exchange Division of the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) as Comex Grade 1 copper.  

In 2007, PASAR began converting its tankhouse from conventional starting sheet electrorefining to ISA process. The tankhouse was fully converted to ISA process in March 2008; consequently, production of the PASAR brand ceased effective March 2008. The ISA-type cathodes now being produced in the refinery carry the brand name PSR Isabel, which has been newly registered with the LME as Grade A copper.

The location of the PASAR copper smelter and refinery in Leyte in the central Philippines has advantages for the company and its partners. 

The smelter lies in the center of the Philippine archipelago, ready to serve the needs of the country’s reviving mining industry.

PASAR’s strategic location in the Pacific Rim allows access to copper concentrate supplies from Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Canada, Australia, Argentina, Brazil and Chile. Another advantage is its proximity to the refined copper markets of China, Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and Japan.

The refining plant’s complex includes pollution abatement facilities, port and bulk handling facilities, an airstrip, a medical facility, and housing, recreation and educational facilities for company personnel and their dependents.