Nickeliferous laterite deposit is very pervasive throughout Dinagat Island being the direct weathering product of the ultramafic fraction of the DOC. Several nickel prospects and mines abound within the island group.

As a consequence the whole of Dinagat Island is covered by various mining and exploration permit applications. Besides PNPI which has the largest nickel operation in Dinagat historically, the adjacent island of Hinatuan hosts the Hinatuan Nickel Mining Corporations nickel operation and the Cagdianao Nickel Mining Corporation operates a property in eastern Dinagat Island which is along the Peninsula Point facing the Pacific Ocean. Both companies are under the umbrella corporation of Nickel Asia Corporation. North and east of Loreto are the MPSAs of Comet Exploration and Mining Corporation and Oriental Peninsula Corporation.

Ore Extraction
The main purpose of stripping activities is to expose the ore. Once the ore is already exposed, mining activities will then follow. The pit design should be of sufficient volume to include the volume of overburden and mineable ore, access road, drainage, stripping, and mining limits.

The ore is continually sampled vertically from the bench face at 5m interval, which will serve as a guide to loaders in segregating the materials being hauled. The working bench is excavated in slices of 3m only. Each material is classified as to assay value and will be excavated and loaded to haulage trucks separately. The load is separated according the classification as per assay.

Transferring / Beneficiation
The beneficiation area consists of an embankment, 10-15m high, 150m long with a back of almost one hectare. In level with the toe of the embankment is the ore breaking ground of approximately two (2) hectares in surface area including the area occupied by the manual crushers.

Based on the actual analysis of each pile, the individual piles are hauled to their respective piling areas at the back of the embankment where the ore is slowly pushed down the slope by a bulldozer. By gravity, the boulders roll down the slopes and accumulate at the toe. The oversized boulders are harvested by a wheel loader then spread at the breaking area for subsequent manual breaking.

Hauling of Beneficiated Ores to the Pier Stockyards ........