Sumitomo seeks PEZA perks for nickel plant

Sumitomo Metal Mining Co. Ltd. is seeking registration with the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) and the proclamation of its $1.3-billion nickel processing plant project in Surigao del Norte as a special economic zone.

Takanori Fujimura, president of Sumitomo-owned Coral Bay Nickel Corp. (CBNC) in Palawan, has already informed government officials that the new project has to be registered with PEZA instead of the Board of Investments because it is an export-oriented enterprise.

Part of their registration is a petition for Malacañang to proclaim its project as a special economic zone just like the CBNC nickel refinery plant in Palawan.

As an export-oriented enterprise, the project would be entitled to tax and fiscal incentives including income tax holiday and zero-duty importation of capital equipment.

Project registration for incentive purposes was the next step following the recent signing of the memorandum of understanding between Sumitomo and Nickel Asia Corp. to proceed with the construction of a nickel-processing plant in the municipality of Claver, which is adjacent to Taganito Mining Corp.’s nickel mine.

Taganito, a subsidiary of Nickel Asia, will supply all of the required nickel ore to the plant for an estimated 30-year project life, while Nickel Asia will take a 20-percent to 25-percent equity interest in the project under a joint-venture company called THPAL Corp.

The output of the high pressure acid leaching plant, a mixed nickelcobalt sulfide, will be purchased by Sumitomo for final processing at its refinery in Japan.

The nickel processing plant in Claver will be the country’s second downstream nickel-processing plant by the Sumitomo-Nickel Asia, the first being CBNC in Palawan. CBNC was put up by a Japanese consortium led by Sumitomo and Rio Tuba Nickel Mining Corp., another subsidiary of Nickel Asia.

The Surigao processing plant is expected to triple the size of the initial CBNC plant, which became operational in 2005 with an initial capacity of 10,000 tons year of nickel metal equivalent. CBNC’s output has been doubled since then.

The project is expected to start early next year and commercial operation to commence after three years. An estimated 4,000 personnel would be hired during the construction stage and 1,000 full-time employees when fully operational.