MANILA, Philippines – Nickel Asia Corporation’s initial $102.4-million investment in a $1.3-billion nickel processing facility will allow it to produce higher grade nickel products instead of just raw ore and thus expand its market.

In an interview, Nickel Asia vice president Dennis Zamora said the plant will allow them to produce nickel sulfide, which is 55 to 57 percent nickel, from ore than contains an average of just one percent nickel.

Currently, the firm sells high grade ore of above 2 percent nickel to Japan while lower grades are sold to China. Nickel Asia holds a 25 percent market share in Japan, and 18 percent of the nickel market in China.

The firm believes the Chinese market will continue to improve given the growing demand of nickel in the country. China consumes 37 percent of all nickel in the world and is projected to grow 30 percent per year from 2007 to 2012. On the other hand, global growth average is only 3.5 percent.

The new processing plant to be constructed will start operation in 2013 and is expected to produce a total of 30,000 tons of metal with 55-57 percent nickel content annually.

Nickel Asia will provide $102.4 million of the needed $455-million equity for Taganito HPAL (High Pressure Acid Leach) Nickel Corporation which will own and operate the processing plant.

Zamora said they will require an estimated $1.3 billion just to build the whole facility but the bulk of the cash requirement will be borrowed by THNC. Nickel Asia's mining operation Taganito Mining Corporation (TMC) will provide the needed low-grade ore that will be fed into the processing plant.