Reporter

JINCHUAN Group Ltd., China’s biggest producer of nickel and cobalt, is conducting due diligence on the Palawan nickel mine of MacroAsia Corp., a publicly listed holding company controlled by business tycoon Lucio Tan.

In a statement to the stock exchange, MacroAsia said Jinchuan has fielded mining experts at Brookes Point on Palawan island to assess and conduct due diligence for two months.

While the due diligence is ongoing, MacroAsia executives are currently in China to observe Jinchuan’s mining operations in the so-called “Nickel City” in Gansu Province.

The due diligence was an offshoot of the meeting between Jinchuan chairman and chief executive officer Li Yong-Jun and Tan in November. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo personally introduced and arranged the meeting between the two during her state visit to China last year.

Li and Tan then discussed the possibility of a mutual cooperation between their companies.

Joint mineral exploration with foreign investors is now allowed in the Philippines after the Supreme Court, in a December 2004 decision, allowed foreign companies to have majority control over local mining projects.

Primarily engaged in aviation-related services, MacroAsia gained its mining rights from Cobertson Holdings Corp. — formerly Infanta Mineral & Industrial Corp.

In March 2006, MacroAsia obtained a mineral production sharing agreement from the Bureau of Mines Geosciences covering 1,114 hectares of land at Brookes Point. It gave the company exclusive rights to explore, develop and utilize for commercial purposes nickel, chromite, iron and other mineral deposits that may be found in the area.

The agreement is good for 25 years from date of issuance, and is renewable for another 25 years. MacroAsia president Joseph T. Chua said earlier that initial exploration of the Palawan site will cost more than $1 million.

Jinchuan is an integrated nonferrous metallurgical and chemical engineering enterprise engaged in mining, concentrating, metallurgy and chemical engineering. It produces nickel, copper, cobalt, rare and precious metals and also some chemical products such as sulfuric acid, caustic soda, liquid chlorine, hydrochloric acid and sodium sulfite, together with some further processed nonferrous metals products.

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JINCHUAN Group Ltd., China’s biggest producer of nickel and cobalt, is conducting due diligence on the Palawan nickel mine of MacroAsia Corp., a publicly listed holding company controlled by business tycoon Lucio Tan.

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