DMCI Mining ships more nickel ore

MANILA, Philippines — DMCI Mining Corp., the nickel mining arm of DMCI Holdings Inc., reported a 45 percent increase in its shipped nickel ore in the first half of the year as its mining assets operate at full capacity.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, DMCI Mining said it shipped a total of 1.24 million wet metric tons (WMT) of nickel ore from January to June, higher than the 853,000 WMT shipped in the same period last year.

“This is the first time that both our mining assets are operating at full capacity,”DMCI Mining president Tulsi Das Reyes said.

DMCI Mining has two operating nickel mining assets, particularly Berong Nickel Corp. (BNC) and Zambales Diversified Metals Corporation (ZDMC).

Of the total shipments, 718,000 WMT came from BNC while ZMDC contributed 522,000 WMT.

“We expect shipments to remain strong in the second half since we were able to extend Berong’s mine life from June until the third quarter this year,” he said.

The average selling price per metric ton increased by 57 percent to $44, largely due to China’s surging stainless steel production, strong demand for electric vehicles and the continuing Indonesian nickel ore export ban.

“The uptrend in nickel prices is likely to continue in the coming months because of production-consumption gaps. Major nickel producers are seeing lower output because of COVID-19 lockdowns and various operating issues but industrial manufacturing is still ramping up,” Reyes said.

Nickel is mainly used in stainless steelmaking, but is also a vital ingredient for the lithium-ion batteries used to power electric vehicles (EV).

The International Energy Agency estimates that global EVs will grow 14 times to 145 million by 2030.