DMCI Mining Corp., a unit of conglomerate DMCI Holdings Inc., shipped 338,000 wet metric tons of nickel ore in the first quarter of 2019, up 118 percent from 156,000 tons year-on-year.
DMCI Mining said in a statement all shipments came from Berong Nickel Corp. Its other nickel asset, Zambales Diversified Metals Corp., remains suspended by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
The average nickel grade declined from 1.70 percent to 1.59 percent in the first quarter of the year as BNC shifted shipments to include middle-grade ore.
“We had a good first quarter but we do not see this holding up for the rest of the year due to a number of factors, such as weak market prices, peso appreciation versus the US dollar and our dwindling nickel reserves in Berong’s active mine sites,” said DMCI Mining president Cesar Simbulan Jr.