Group eyes copper industrial zone in Leyte

TACLOBAN CITY, March 8 (PNA) –- The Resource-based Industries Services (RBIS), Board of Investments (BOI) and the Philippine Associated Smelting and Refining Corporation (PASAR) are pushing for the establishment of an Ecological Industrial Zone in Leyte province to develop an integrated copper industry in the country.

The zone aims to fully integrate copper industry from mining to manufacturing at the end of 2030, in which at present, PASAR heavily depends on import of raw materials and export of finished products to sustain its operations, said PASAR Chairman Angel Veloso, Jr.

PASAR has been operating within the 425-hectare Leyte Industrial Development Estate, an economic zone in Isabel Leyte.

“We are here, but we import all the concentrates and all the copper cathodes and there’s no benefit in the region. We have no rod company and nobody uses our cathodes. That’s why we export everything,” said Veloso in a project presentation to members of the Regional Development Council’s Economic Development Committee.

The proposed zone covers a 10 square kilometer areas or about 1,000 hectares that will rise within the towns of Isabel, Merida and Palompon in northwestern part of Leyte province, according to Veloso.

Potential locators include wire rod casting facility, downstream copper industry, major industries that need power and port facilities such as steel, clustered center for electric car manufacturer, and other business firms.

RBI, BOI and PASAR will have to conduct a feasibility study on the project.

Veloso noted that all products from copper such as rods, wires, cables, auto wire harnesses, and foils get their raw materials from abroad and ship their semi-finished products outside the country.

For PASAR alone, the recent expansion requires about 300,000 tons of copper cathodes for its 1.3 metric tons copper concentrate smelting capacity.

PASAR imports nearly all its copper concentrate – the raw material from which the metal is produced – from Indonesia, Canada, Papua New Guinea, Australia, Chile and Argentina.

The firm exports 95 percent of its copper, which is used in everything from computer chips and air conditioners to plumbing equipment and power plants. It sells the other five percent locally.

PASAR ships copper mostly to China, which consumes about one-fifth of the global output.

PASAR is the country’s only copper smelting and refining firm and is one of the biggest in Asia. The copper cathodes used in the manufacture of electronics that are produced by PASAR are among the top ten export products of the country. (PNA)
JMC/SARWELL Q. MENIANO