Citinickel to increase laterite ore production of Palawan mine

Citinickel Mines and Development Corporation plans to increase the laterite ore production of its Toronto mine in Narra, Palawan, a company official said over the weekend. The company is targeting between 13,000 to 15,000 wet metric tons (WMT) by the end of the year from the current production level of 10,000 WMT. Mine resident manager Jainal Uy told reporters that Citinickel will also expand the mine's open areas to 50 hectares from the 40 hectares to extend the mine's lifespan beyond the previous estimate of 10 years. The mine, which began commercial operations in 2011, produces ore with a 48-percent iron content and a high nickel grade of 1.8 to two percent. It produced two million WMT of nickel ore last year that it shipped to smelters in Australia, China and Japan. Citinickel is a subsidiary of listed mining firm Oriental Peninsula Resources Group (ORE). In an earlier interview, ORE president and chairman Caroline Tanchay said the company plans to establish more nickel-iron mines in the next five years. Citinickel's 25-year mineral production sharing agreement with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) covers 2,176 hectares of land in southern Palawan—1,408 hectares in Sofronio Española (where it operates the Pulot mine) and 768 hectares in Narra. Last November, the Toronto mine's tailings pond no. 2 began leaking silt "due to lapses in the judgement of the mine foreman who was tasked to drain water from silt pond no. 2 to silt pond no. 1," according to a report by the DENR's Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) on the incident. The DENR penalized Citinickel for the spill, which contaminated the Pinagduguan river. In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, ORE said that the company completed the cleanup of the affected areas within 15 days of the incident and has settled penalties worth more than P375,000. It also built an additional silting pond to prevent a repeat of the accident.   Toronto mine administration officer Pamela Miguel also said that after the removal of silt from the Pinagduguan river and 6.8 hectares of nearby farm lands, the company will spend some P100,000 to turn the area into a mini ecotourism site for the municipality. Citinickel has allotted P800 million for expansion activities this year. — BM, GMA News