Berong Nickel Corporation (BNC) will allot an additional PHP50 million for the rehabilitation of its Berong nickel mine in Quezon, Palawan.

In an interview with reporters in Makati on Thursday, BNC president Tulsi Das Reyes said the company is also on track to meet its rehabilitation target for this year.

“Yes, we are ahead of schedule. What we are doing now is we are still planting and then we have to continue benching for the soil stabilization,” Reyes said.

In an earlier disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, parent company DMCI Holdings Inc. said BNC has so far rehabilitated 30 hectares of the Berong mine.

This is equivalent to 88 percent of the 34 hectares target for 2023.

The company initially allocated PHP110 million for the six-year rehabilitation period.

“Most of the heavy work is done for the rehabilitation. We changed the budget a bit, we might add PHP50 million,” Reyes said.

He said the additional budget was due to the huge increase in fuel prices.

The Berong mine opened in October 2006 and was fully depleted by December 2021. The final rehabilitation program covers 109 hectares of surface mine, 209 hectares of silt control structures and 25 hectares of stockpile area.

“We have four years left to complete it. The MGB (Mines and Geosciences Bureau) told us they want to showcase it as a commendable final mine rehabilitation plan,” he added.

“If they’re gonna say very nice things to us today, I want to make sure that when they showcase it, it’s as close to perfect as possible. There’s no incentive for us to finish early so let’s do right,” he added. (PNA)