The Philippines’ largest nickel miner shipped 11.7 million wet metric tonne of nickel ore in 2012, the company disclosed to the Philippine Stock Exchange.
Nickel Asia Corp reported that the volume set a record for the company, surpassing its 2011 total by 12.5%. However, the total estimated value of the shipments declined by 7.4%t to PHP 11.2B owing to a drop in prices from USD 10.53 per pound in 2011 to USD 8.10 per pound at the London Metal Exchange.
The balance of the shipments, largely the low and medium grade variety ore sold to Chinese buyers, went for USD 24.41 per WMT of ore on average, slightly lower than the average price of USD 24.47 per WMT in 2011.
According to the firm, 48% of the total volume came from its Rio Tuba mine in Palawan, consisting of 2.3 million WMT of saprolite ore and 3.4 million WMT of limonite ore.
Its Taganito mine in Surigao del Norte contributed 20% of the volume, shipping 1.7 million WMT of saprolite ore and 710,000 WMT of limonite ore.
The company’s Hinatuan, Caraga mine produced 2.6 million WMT of limonite ore, or 23% of the total, while its Cagdianao, Dinagat Islands mine shipped 290,000 WMT of saprolite ore and 795,000 WMT of limonite ore, or 9% of miner’s shipments for the year.
For 2013, Nickel Asia is contracted to deliver another 11.7 million WMT of saprolite and limonite ore to its customers.
