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EUROPEAN
Nickel Plc. is acquiring the interest of Investika Ltd.
in Berong Nickel Corp. (BNC) and Toledo Mining Corp. (TMC)
for $48 million.
BNC and
TMC are operating units of publicly-traded Atlas
Consolidated Mining and Development Corp. European
Nickel is a UK-registered company, which has developed a
novel heap leach process for application to nickel
laterites.
In a
disclosure to the stock exchange Tuesday, Atlas said
European Nickel will own 18.7-percent interest in BNC
and 19.3 percent in TMC after the completion of the
transaction with Investika.
Atlas
said its board as well as that of TMC formally waived
their direct and indirect preemptive rights of first
refusal with respect to the sale Investika’s 18.7
percent in BNC in favor of European Nickel.
“The
entry of European Nickel is seen as positive and is
warmly welcome by Atlas. This will enable us to leverage
off our large laterite resource base (approximately 275
million tons at an estimated grade of 1.3-percent
nickel) and accelerate the commercial development of one
or more of the value-added processing options currently
under study,” Atlas said.
The
incoming investor has commercialized a proprietary,
low-cost heap leach process for nickel laterite and has
demonstrated the successful percolation and extraction
of nickel at a large-scale demonstration plant in Caldao,
Turkey with continuous operations over a three-year
period, Atlas said.
BNC has
been directly shipping laterite nickel ore to Australia
and China for the past 15 months. Last year, around
530,000 wet metric tons of laterite ore at an average
grade of 1.53 percent.
Year-to-date, nearly 190,000 wet metric tons of similar
nickel grades have been shipped notwithstanding the wet
weather conditions in the second quarter.
BNC’s
operations are based in barangay Berong, Quezon town in
Palawan.
The
mining sector is seen to fuel economic growth in the
near-term, according to some market analysts.
“Generally, I think this sector should be
watched closely by investors. I perceive it as an
inflation-hedge sector,” said Ron Rodrigo, head of
research at DBP Daiwa Securities.
In May
2007, European Nickel inked a deal with Rusina Mining NL
to jointly develop the Acoje nickel laterite project in
Zambales. It will fund the first $10 million of the
feasibility study costs to earn a 40-percent interest in
the project and will lead the study and development of
the project. |
