FNI board approves plans to merge five nickel mining units
The proposed mergers would leave Ipilan Nickel and Platinum Group Metals as the surviving entities, subject to corporate and regulatory approvals.
Global Ferronickel Holdings Inc. (FNI) said its board had approved two proposed mergers involving five nickel mining subsidiaries as part of a restructuring. The plans remain subject to applicable conditions and corporate and regulatory approvals.
One proposal would combine Celestial Nickel Mining Exploration Corp., Ipilan Nickel Corp. and Nickel Laterite Resources Inc., leaving Ipilan Nickel as the surviving company. The other would bring Surigao Integrated Resources Corp. into Platinum Group Metals Corp. (PGMC), which would survive the merger.
FNI said the changes were intended to simplify the group’s structure, bring operations together and improve operational and administrative efficiency. Directors also authorised company officers to take the required steps, sign documents and submit disclosures to the Philippine Stock Exchange, the Securities and Exchange Commission and other regulators.
The group’s operating mines are in Palawan and Surigao del Norte. Ipilan Nickel mines medium- and low-grade nickel ore within a 2,835-hectare surface mineral area in Brooke’s Point, Palawan. PGMC extracts nickel laterite ore at its 4,376-hectare Cagdianao Nickel Project in Claver, Surigao del Norte.
First-half shipments from the Surigao mine declined 8.2 per cent to 668,000 wet metric tons (WMT), compared with 728,000 WMT a year earlier. Palawan shipments rose 27.8 per cent to 1.14 million WMT from 892,000 WMT. FNI attributed the Palawan increase to planned early shipments, better mine planning and operational efficiencies.
