（Jul. 31, 2014）Ferronickel producer and smelting company MCCI Corp., a subsidiary of Platinum Group Metals Corp., said it will spend $100 million to rehabilitate its smelting facilities and boost nickel production in the country.

MCCI said its US associate investment and management firm Trebor Resource Management Group Inc. signed an agreement with The Benchmark Company LLC, a Wall Street investment bank, to raise up to $100 million to bring its smelters into full operation.

Part of the capital will also be used for the joint venture, acquisition and development of additional nickel mines to ensure nickel ore supply for the smelters.

The company’s smelting facilities are located in Cebu, Iligan City and Misamis Oriental.

MCCI said the smelting facilities were expected to produce around 250,000 metric tons of ferronickel and nickel pig iron by the fourth quarter of 2015.

Ferronickel and nickel pig iron are value-added products in strong demand internationally used primarily in the production of steel products.

“MCCI has steered away from the traditional export of raw nickel ore and has been using its smelting facilities to develop ferronickel and nickel pig iron production technology over the last five years. MCCI has successfully completed initial production trials which have been tested and accepted by its China customers,” the company said.

“The production of nickel metal in the form of ferronickel and nickel pig iron is a significant value addition in the utilization and optimization of the country’s mineral resources and reduces the country’s dependence on the shipping of low value high volume nickel ore to China,” it said.

The company said the Philippines was importing steel and stainless steel products despite being rich in the basic minerals used to manufacture these products.

MCCI said it was also in the process of studying the viability of constructing a 160-megawatt power plant to ensure power supply to sustain its smelting operations in Mindanao.

MCCI is a unit of PGMC, which operates a mine in Cagdianao, Surigao del Norte.  Major shareholders include Ceferino Paredes, Dante Bravo, Joseph S, Lin Ou Wen, Rafael Atayde, Peter Lin Hui and Lin Zhing.

PGMC was earlier reported to be planning to raise funds from the stock market via backdoor listing to finance the upgrade of its smelting plants.

• [Editor:Juan]