LISTED Global Ferronickel Holdings Inc. (FNI) secured from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) a renewal of its Mineral Production Sharing Agreement (MPSA) for the Ipilan Nickel project in Brooke’s Point, Palawan.
The company said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Wednesday that the clearance was provided through DENR’s order dated May 14, 2025.
FNI said the MPSA covers an area of about 2,835 hectares. Under an MPSA, the government grants a contractor exclusive right to conduct mining operations in a specific area in exchange for a portion of the mineral production.
Meanwhile, in a separate message, FNI President Dante Bravo said they are now waiting for the government’s action on the company’s application to amend its Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) for the project.
“At this point, we are hoping for the expedited approval of our application to amend our ECC to cover our production expansion from 1.5 million wet metric tons (WMT) to 3 million WMT annually. We are also looking at exploring other areas for our nickel resource banking as part of our long-term strategy to aid our local value-added processing plans,” he explained.
The company earlier said that once the ECC amendment is granted, the increase in production levels will also result in more jobs, higher contribution to the Social Development Management Program fund, increase in royalty shares for the Indigenous Peoples in the host and impact barangays and higher tax revenues for the government, among others.
Earlier this month, FNI also announced a 1,567 percent jump in its net income for the first quarter of 2025 at P177.3 million, compared with the P10.63 million for the year-earlier period, driven by improved shipment volumes and ore prices this year.
FNI also recorded a 105 percent surge in its revenues to P1.21 billion for the first quarter of 2025 from P589.88 million in the first quarter of 2024.
The company said its shipment volumes for the first quarter of 2025 totaled 505,459 WMT, which is 32.6 percent higher than first quarter 2024’s 381,002 WMT. Meanwhile, the average realized nickel ore price rose by 50 percent to $41.13 per WMT from $27.42.
FNI’s principal subsidiary, Platinum Group Metals Corp. is the Philippines’ second largest nickel ore producer, with mining assets in Cagdianao, Surigao del Norte and Brooke’s Point, Palawan.
FNI produces nickel ore and is also pursuing diversification with recent investments in value-added nickel processing and cement manufacturing, as well as port operations and logistics.
