Mine firm sees fewer shipments amid permit delays

SURIGAO DEL NORTE — Hinatuan Mining Corp. (HMC), an affiliate of the country’s largest nickel miner Nickel Asia Corp., has trimmed its target in terms of nickel ore shipments this year as it faces delay in getting the government’s go signal for its tree-cutting activity.

HMC Resident Mine Manager Francisco Arañes Jr. said the company is having a hard time in obtaining a tree cutting permit from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), which would have allowed them to operate in more than 30 hectares of land inside its mine area.

This, according to him, has prompted the company to “recompute” its shipment target for this year, reducing it to 38 shipments instead of 51. Last year, the company made 52 shipments, which mostly went to China.

“As of last week, we have already shipped out 33 vessels of nickel ore for the year. We only have five more shipments this year. For this month, we will have two shipments to Japan,” Arañes said in an interview with reporters here. Each shipment carries more than 50,000 wet metric tons (wmt).

“Our target for this year was recomputed because we have pending tree-cutting operation. Our original target for this year is 58 shipments,” he further said.

Arañes said HMC’s application for tree cutting permit has already been recommended by the government’s Forest Management Bureau to Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu but “he has not yet acted upon it.”

The application has been with the DENR since April.

Without specifying specific figures, Arañes said lower shipment will translate to lower income.

For 2018, HMC is expecting its operations to normalize with 51 ore shipments.

Arañes said the company is hoping to experience an increase in production and earnings moving forward as the world prices for nickel improves.