Nickel project potential pegged at $40 B

MANILA, Philippines - Intex Resources Philippines Inc. announced positive results in its definite feasibility study, indicating that over $40 billion worth of nickel can be produced from the Mindoro Nickel Project (MNP).

“The project holds an estimated 350 million metric tons [MT] total laterite resources containing approximately three million MT of nickel, or more than $40-billion worth based on recent average nickel prices of $6.20 per pound,” said Sven Monrad Jensen, Intex Resources executive vice president.

Jesen said that MNP has the potential to become the largest nickel producer and the only refined nickel-metal plant in the Philippines, with over 350-million MT total laterite resources.

The MNP straddles the municipalities of Sablayan, Occidental Mindoro, and Victoria, Oriental Mindoro.

During the recent Mining Philippines 2013 Conference, Jensen pointed out that MNP’s patented flow sheet-which combines high pressure acid leach (HPAL) with atmospheric leach (ATML) and neutralization of the saprolite ore variant before metal extraction-will enable Intex to avoid stockpiling or shipping, and to mine at lower costs.

Intex plans to use low-grade nickel ore to be able to use just about all the ore in its area.

Operations will also feature the country’s first nickel refinery (in line with government’s push for more value-added economic activities) and “clean” electricity generation that will benefit the local grid.

The Mindoro nickel project is located at an area rich with limonite ore, which appears on the surface as brown clay and is processed through hydrometallurgy, using acid.

The water and the heat that escape from the chemical reaction during processing will be recycled by Intex into steam to drive the turbines of a 110-megawatt (MW) power generation plant.

Processing is seen to generate enough electricity to power operations and the excess will likely be sold to the local grid in Mindoro, Jensen said.

Deeper into the ground is saprolite, which miners traditionally extract separately and ship overseas for smelting.

Intex’s plan is to mine both ore types in the order and ratio in which they occur in order to minimize stockpiles and rehandling.

The unique process has been patented as it combines traditional hydrometallurgical processing of limonite ore alongside atmospheric leaching for saprolite, followed by saprolite neutralization before metals extraction.