DTI endorses Coral Bay Nickel’s $180-M project in Palawan

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is urging the National Commission on Indigenous People (NCP) to issue a certificate of precondition to Coral Bay Nickel Corp. (CBNC) to enable the firm to proceed with its $180-million hydrometallurgical processing plant (HPP) in Palawan.

CBNC said it has completed the project’s requirements and yet the project has been put on hold for the past three years because the NCIP has not issued the necessary certificate required by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau, an attached agency of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

Trade and Industry Secretary Cesar V. Purisima said while the project is already 90 percent complete, it cannot operate without the certificate, resulting in revenue loss both for the company and the government.

Purisima said once operational, the project would generate revenues that would contribute to foreign exchange earnings amounting to $112 million or approximately P6.3 billion at current exchange rates.

The CBNC HPP is projected to process 35 million wet metric tons of low grade nickel ores over the next 25 years.

The plant complex in Bataraza, Palawan would process the stockpile of low grade ore which is a waste material of the Rio Tuba Nickel Mining Corp. operations in Palawan.

CBNC would reportedly employ 2,200 employees during the construction period and directly hire 85 plant employees.