RTNMC to expand limestone quarry

Rio Tuba Nickel Mining Corp. (RTNMC), a subsidiary of Nickel Asia Corp., is planning to spend P410 million to expand its Gotok Limestone Quarry area by another 46.9 hectares to extend its lifespan up to 2033.

In a filing with the Department of Environment and Natural ResourcesEnvironmental Management Bureau (DENR-EMB), RTMNC proposed to expand its limestone quarry area from 13 hectares to 59.90 hectares in Iwahig and Sandoval, Municipality of Bataraza, Palawan.

“To extend the minelife of the Gotok Limestone Quarry, RTNMC is proposing to expand its development area to 59.90 hectares,” the company said.

The proposed additional 46.9-hectare area is still within the company’s 84.5-hectare mineral production sharing agreement (MPSA).

“By applying for the expansion of the area, the RTNMC’s operation is projected to extend up to 2033 as seen in the proposed long-range plan,” RTNMC said.

The company said its operations would only last up to 2021 with the continuous limestone extraction.

It currently supplies the limestone requirement of Coral Bay Nickel Corp. (CBNC) and Graymont (Philippines) Inc. located within the Rio Tuba Export Processing Zone (RTEPZ).

“CBNC and GPI will have to resort to finding another supplier that will be able to satisfy their limestone requirement in terms of size, grade and volume,” RTNMC said.

Despite the expansion area, the company’s extraction rate shall be maintained at 725,000 wet metric tons (WMT) annually, as allowed under its environmental clearance certificate (ECC) granted in 2019.

Based on the Feasibility Study conducted for this proposed expansion project, the Gotok Limestone Quarry has a total resource of 24.32 million WMT with an average grade of 94.49 percent.

The company said it was already granted with a Strategic Environmental Plan Clearance from the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development on May 27, 2021.

RTNMC secured its initial ECC for its Gotok Limestone Quarry operation in 2003. It then started its commercial production of limestone in 2005.

RTNMC is recognized as one of the largest corporate taxpayers in Palawan. It has paid the provincial coffers P340 million in real property tax from 2016 until 2020.

Meanwhile, RTNMC is one of the four mining operations that showed excellent benchmarks for future mining entrants, whether open-pit or underground mining.

This is based on the Mining Industry Coordinating Council (MICC)’s review of 45 large-scale metallic mining operations in the Philippines released by the National Economic and Development Authority .

The MICC is mandated to assess and review all mining operations concerning their compliance with existing laws and regulations. It also reviews miningrelated laws, rules, and regulations, and provides corresponding policy recommendations to improve their effectiveness and relevance.