Nickel Asia Corp. is increasing production at its Cagdianao mine site by 10% next year, as it anticipates an improvement in nickel prices as Indonesia begins implementing a nickel export ban. The Cagdianao mine site is located in Barangay Valencia in the municipality of Cagdianao, Dinagat Islands in the Caraga Region. It has a total Mineral Production Sharing Agreement (MPSA) for 697 hectares, a third of which is mineable. The mine can produce up to 5 million WMT of nickel, which is used for the production of stainless steel. Indonesia has announced that it will start its nickel ore export ban on Jan. 1, 2020. The bulk of the shipments with 1.55% ore grade, or medium-grade ore, are being exported to China, while those with 1.7% ore grade are sent to Japan. Next year's production would be higher than the 2.354 million WMT target for this year.

The miner sold 9.08 million WMT of nickel ore during the January to June period, 2% up from last year's 8.89 million WMT. Limonite ore deliveries also increased 10% to 4.41 million WMT, which offset the decline in ore export volumes by 4% to 4.67 million WMT.