The Philippine environment secretary said Thursday that the government is attracting investment to develop a domestic nickel processing industry, Mining.com reported, citing Reuters. The resource-rich country wants to increase the value added of metals and mining.
Environment and Resources Secretary Maria Antonia Yullo-Loyzaga told the media that the Philippines must now move up the value chain.
"We are behind in this. We want to be value creators, part of the value chain and not just the supply chain, "she said, without giving details.
"There is a price to pay, but we are one of the most important mineral resources in the world. Everyone needs our minerals, "she says.
The Philippines is following the example of neighbouring Indonesia, which successfully attracted substantial processing plant investment for its huge nickel deposit after banning raw ore exports in 2020.
But Jurlo-Loizaga said a similar ban would not be adopted in the Philippines.
"This government has said mining is open, but [it should be] responsible mining," she said.
There are only two Nickel processing plants in the Philippines, part-owned by Nickel Asia, the country's largest ore producer.
"There are no hard targets [referring to the number of processing plants needed], but nickel is one of the areas that needs to add more processing plants," she said.
Last week, people familiar with the proposal said Huayou would team up with a Philippine miner to build the country's third nickel ore processing plant.
Meanwhile, Asia Nickel's chief executive, Matin Antonio Zamora, said on Monday that the company would assess the feasibility of building another processing plant.
