DMCI Mining bullish on electric vehicles

DMCI Mining Corp. on Wednesday said it is optimistic on the electric vehicle (EV) business, with supply arrangements being ironed out with firms that currently have business presence in China and Europe.

In an interview with reporters, DMCI Mining president Tulsi Das Reyes said the company is currently in business with a trader that has partnerships with Chinese-based battery manufacturer Ampere Technology Limited (ATL).

“The EV boom gave me a fresh lease on life, sa totoo lang. We were thinking about being contractors, were thinking about doing other industries within the nickel businesses,” he said in a briefing in Makati City.

“Without the EVs, we would have entered so many other niche markets honestly, so it was a huge impact, huge,” he said, citing the inflow of investments into the industry.

DMCI Mining is involved in mining of nickel, which is a key ingredient in lithium-ion batteries which are used in most of the EVs.

“Those are some people we’re exploring with, we’re getting calls from — mention any European country, we’re getting calls from them,” Reyes said.

“Sa totoo lang [Honestly], in nickel business, you can have one buyer, you can have multiple. Some of our friends like to do multiple cause they go after the best price. Kami [For us], we can live off one or two traders,” he added.

DMCI reported a 56% decline in its third-quarter net income to P80 million from P181 million, citing lower shipments, flattish nickel grade sold, higher selling prices, and the impact of foreign exchange rates.

This brought the year-to-date net income down by 17% to P1.17 billion from P1.41 billion, on the back of lower nickel ore shipments and average nickel grade sold during the period.

Reyes said the drop was “expected” given the depletion of its Berong mine late in 2021, which was partly offset by the nickel market which pushed shipments of low-grade inventory.

“Strong nickel prices and local currency weakness also moderated the impact of lower shipments on our bottom line,” he said.

DMCI Mining is among the subsidiaries of Consunji-led DMCI Holdings Inc. (DMC), along with DM Consunji Inc., DMCI Project Developers Inc., Semirara Mining and Power Corp., and DMCI Power Corp.

Moving forward, Reyes said he is optimistic that DMCI Mining will be able to compete with Semirara in five to seven years’ time, citing investors such as Warren Buffett, Amazon, and Google.

“These are all people who are investing into EV… So you know that there’s some sort of space for us there no matter how big your margins, and that’s why it’s huge, really huge,” he said.

Shares in DMC closed Wednesday at P9.92 apiece, down by 5 centavos or 0.51% from Tuesday’s finish of P9.87.—LDF, GMA Integrated News