Japanese mining and trading group Sumitomo Metal Mining (SMM) plans to buy the remaining shares of Philippines' Coral Bay Nickel (CBNC) smelter from Philippine firm Nickel Asia (NAC), it said today.
SMM currently owns an 84.375pc stake in CBNC, the first hydrometallurgical metal processing plant in the Philippines that adopts the high-pressure acid leaching (HPAL) process. SMM will acquire the remaining 15.625pc from NAC, making CBNC a completely-owned subsidiary of SMM. But no further details about the transaction price or timeline was disclosed.
CBNC has the capacity to produce 24,000t/yr of nickel and 2,500t/yr of cobalt. SMM also holds 75pc in the Taganito HPAL nickel facility, another HPAL plant in the Philippines. The firm's other nickel operations include the Niihama Nickel Refinery and Harima Refinery in Japan.
