Manila: The Philippines is working to attract investment in its domestic nickel-processing industry as the resource-rich country looks to extract value from its metals and minerals sector, the country's environment minister said on Thursday.
Already a major supplier of nickel ore to top metals consumer China, the Philippines must now move up the value chain, Environment and Natural Resources Minister Maria Antonia Yul-Loyzaga said.
"At this point, we are a supplier nation. We want to be a value creator, so we want to be part of the value chain, not just the supply chain, "she said, without providing details.
It is understood that the Philippines is looking to follow in the footsteps of its neighbour Indonesia, whose huge nickel deposits have succeeded in attracting significant investment to build its processing plants after it banned unprocessed exports in 2020.
But Mr Yul-loyzaga said a similar ban was unlikely in the Philippines. "This government says mining is open, but [it should be] responsible mining.
The Philippines has only two nickel processing plants, part-owned by Asia Nickel, its largest ore producer. "There is no hard target [in terms of the number of processing plants needed] but nickel is certainly one of the areas where there has to be more processing," she said.
Meanwhile, China's Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt Co is seeking to partner with a Philippine miner to build a third nickel processing plant in the Philippines, according to market sources. Meanwhile, Asia Nickel President and CEO Martin Antonio Zamora said the company would assess the feasibility of building another processing plant.
