FNI inks deal with Chinese firm

MANILA, Philippines — Global Ferronickel Holdings Inc. (FNI) has signed an agreement with a Chinese firm for the supply of 1.5 million wet metric tons (WMT) of nickel ore.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, FNI said it signed the agreement with Baosteel Resources International Co. Ltd.

According to the company, the nickel ore will come from FNI’s operating mines in Surigao del Norte and Palawan, operated by its subsidiaries Platinum Group Metals Corp. (PGMC) and Ipilan Nickel Corp. (INC), respectively.

“Our two operating mines have given us the ability to undertake year-round production to better support the growing demand from China,” FNI president Dante Bravo said.

“The easing of COVID-19 restrictions and the robust growth of China’s property sector that is driving the need for stainless steel will help boost the nickel industry,” he said.

Should stockpile inventory permit, FNI said one-third of the shipment will be composed of low grade nickel ore with 0.90 percent nickel content and 49 percent iron content while the remainder will be medium- to high- grade nickel ore with 1.30 percent to 1.60 percent nickel content and 15 percent to 25 percent iron content.

“The selling price of each shipment will be set on a monthly basis according to the prevailing market price at the time of price setting,”FNI said.

Baosteel Resources International Co., Ltd. is a wholly owned subsidiary of the top Chinese steel manufacturing corporation China Baowu Steel Group. It is engaged in the business of mineral resource investment, trading, and logistics services.

The company highly specializes in trading of metallurgic raw material with annual volume of over 60 million tons covering a vast range of products such as iron, ore, coal, alloys, non-ferrous metals, ferrous scraps, metallurgical flux, etc.

Baosteel Resources maintains over 100 overseas suppliers and over 40 overseas clients. Its headquarters are located in Hong Kong with footprints in Australia, Singapore, South Africa, Indonesia, and several others.

In December, FNI said it would concentrate its mining portfolio in its subsidiary PGMC.

FNI announced that its board approved the termination of its memorandum of agreement dated Nov. 27, 2014 and contract to sell dated Aug. 6, 2015 with Giantlead Prestige Inc., Alpha Centauri Fortune Group Inc., Antares Nickel Capital Inc., Huatai Investment Holding Pty. Ltd. and Wei Ting to acquire 100 percent of the outstanding capital stock of Southeast Palawan Nickel Ventures.

“The termination paves the way for the corporation to concentrate its mining portfolio in its subsidiary, as PGMC instead will subscribe to the primary shares, as well as purchase the outstanding 300,000 common shares of FNI in SPNVI, making PGMC the majority shareholder of SPNVI,” FNI said.

SPNVI owns at least 90 percent of Ipilan Nickel Corp., which has started operations and conducted its maiden shipment of nickel ore to China.