DAVAO CITY— A joint venture of Filipino-owned mining companies and a foreign firm has shipped out 40 tons of laterite nickel-containing soil in its concession in Magum, Davao Oriental, for metallurgical testing in Australia, en route for a finalization of its feasibility study.

The move came more than two years after they started exploratory drilling operation for nickel deposit in November 2004.

Director Edilberto Arreza of the regional office of the Mines and GeoSciences Bureau (MGB) said that the BHP Billiton, an Australian-Canadian mining company, recently shipped out the batch of laterite soil containing nickel for Australia, where the soil samples would be tested for metallurgical composition.

After the test, the BHP Billiton would be expected to wrap up its mining feasibility study, the stage prior to a full-scale operation. The MGB has projected that the Hallmark Nickel Project of BHP Billiton in the Magum-Pujada area to be operational in 2010.

This single project that sprawls on 9,000 hectares covers seven mineral production sharing agreements (MPSAs). The BHP Billiton has tied with seven Filipino mining companies to operate the concession that was being explored earlier in the 1960s by the Atlas Mining Corp.

Engineer Edgar Martinez, president of the Mindanao Association of Mineral Industries and a consultant of the joint venture, said a Chinese Filipino-owned mining company in Makati has applied the mining application over the place in the late 1970s and later in 1996 it formed the Asiaticos Management Corp. (Amcor).

Amcor and six other Filipino mining companies linked up with BHP Billiton in 2003.

The concession is found in the boundary area with San Isidro town in the southwest and Martinez earlier said that experts estimated the nickel deposit at 200 metric tons.

Nickel is a silvery white material that takes on a high polish. It belongs to the iron-cobalt group of metals extensively used for making stainless steel and other corrosion-resistant alloys and to make coins and nickel steel for armor plates and burglar-proof vaults.

Elsewhere in the Davao Region, Arreza said that the Norwegian mining firm, which acquired the controlling shares of Apex Mines, has produced last month its first gold bullion in the Apex mines in Barangay Sta. Teresa (formerly called Masara), Maco, Compostela Valley. 

THE Department of Agriculture (DA) on Monday assured that the supply of highland vegetables remain stable and that current prices have not gone up as the cold spell that hit Benguet last week caused minimal damage on vegetables.

LOCAL autoparts makers are pushing for the grant of incentives to car assemblers and parts makers that will participate in the proposed Philippine Utility Vehicle (PhUV) Program and later to buyers of the low-priced PhUV.

THE Manila International Airport Authority (Miaa) closed a portion of runway 13-31 from January 15 to February 28 for upgrading, a move that has caused traffic congestion at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia).

DAVAO CITY— A joint venture of Filipino-owned mining companies and a foreign firm has shipped out 40 tons of laterite nickel-containing soil in its concession in Magum, Davao Oriental, for metallurgical testing in Australia, en route for a finalization of its feasibility study.