Facility

Coral Bay Nickel Corporation (CBNC) HPAL Plant

Coral Bay Nickel Corporation (CBNC) is a high-pressure acid leach (HPAL) hydrometallurgical plant on Palawan Island, Philippines, jointly owned by Sumitomo Metal Mining (75%) and Nickel Asia Corporation (25%). CBNC processes nickel laterite ore from Rio Tuba mine (Palawan) using sulfuric acid under high pressure and temperature to dissolve nickel and cobalt from laterite ore, producing mixed nickel-cobalt sulfide (MSS) intermediate. The MSS is shipped to SMM's Niihama Refinery in Japan for conversion into Class 1 nickel and battery-grade nickel sulfate. CBNC nameplate capacity: ~100,000 tonnes MSS/year (~10,000 tonnes Ni content). Coral Bay was one of the world's first commercially successful HPAL operations for nickel laterite, proving the technology that Indonesia later replicated at massive scale. Source: SMM Annual Report 2024; Nickel Asia Corporation disclosures; NS Energy.