Nickel Asia Corporation (NAC), together with its partners including Sumitomo Metal Mining (SMM), will invest USD 1.4 billion to build a second nickel plant in the Philippines. Construction is currently underway and the new plant will start production in mid 2013. NAC has a 22.5% stake in the new project, while SMM has a 55% stake. The new nickel plant will be situated alongside NAC’s Taganito mining operations in Surigao del Norte. It will use high pressure acid leach (HPAL) technology to process limonite or low-grade nickel ore.
