Founded in 1969 by Manuel “Manny” B. Zamora Jr, brother of businessman Salvador “Buddy” B. Zamora and former San Juan City Congressman Ronaldo “Ronnie” B. Zamora of the Zamora family,[2] it currently has four operational mining sites:[3]
The Rio Tuba mine near Bataraza town, Palawan, operated by Rio Tuba Nickel Mining Corporation (RTNMC, oldest, opened in 1969, shipped nickel internationally in 1970)
The Hinatuan Mine (Tagana-an Nickel Project) is located on Hinatuan Island, Tagana-an, Surigao del Norte and operated by Hinatuan Mining Corporation.[4][5]
The Cagdianao Mine, with the Valencia Pit and adjacent Boa Pit in Cagdianao, Dinagat covers 249.48 square kilometers, was acquired in 1998 and is operated by the Cagdianao Mining Corporation.[6][7]
Formerly Cagdianao operated the South Dingagat Mine, which was closed in October 2007 due to substantial depletion of the higher grade saprolite ore reserves. It has since reopened since 2021. They also operated the Manicani Mine, Manicani Island, Guiuan, Eastern Samar, from 1992 to 1994, and briefly again in 2001,[7] and 2014 to 2016.[8]But the Manicani Mine closed for good in 2016.[9]
NAC's sites were among those under critical inspection of the DENR (Department of Environment and Natural Resources), accused of a range of environmental law violations with uncontrolled siltation and soil erosion, dust emissions cited as the main reasons amongst others. The Hinatuan site was one of 20 mining sites subsequently proposed for close-down in September 2016.[10][11] In February 2017, the late Environment Secretary Gina Lopez ordered the closure of the Hinatuan Mine. The mine has since reopened after her appointment was turned down by the Commission on Appointments. [12]
Other ventures
Besides the mining business, NAC also has invested in renewable energy and power generation with Emerging Power Inc (established in 2001), (EPI), operating in Subic Bay Freeport, Nauhan, Mindoro Oriental, and Biliran. NAC has also ventured into gold and copper exploration with subsidiaries, Cordillera Exploration Co Inc, and Newminco Pacific Mining Corp.They have also ventured into the copper industry. MRC Allied Inc on March 11, 2022, sold 100% of their stakes in Tampakan Copper-Gold Project and Marihatag Copper-Gold Project in Tampakan, Davao Del Sur, and the Boston-Cateel Copper-Gold Project and Paquibato Copper-Gold Project in Davao Oriental and Davao Del Norte to Salvador “Buddy” Zamora, former campaign manager of Manny Pacquiao during the 2022 Philippine elections.
Aside from Nickel Asia Corporation, the Zamora family also owns or has interests in the following industries: Security Bank (Banking; purchased from Ronald Gapud in 1986), MANTA Equities Inc (Property holding firm established in 1990), Informatics Philippines (Part of the Informatics Group in Singapore; College established in 1993), Philippine International Air Terminal Co. (Aviation),St Luke’s Medical Center (Healthcare, established in 1903), Zamora and Poblador law (Law firm established in 1993), Cafe Lyon/Dome Cafe (Food and beverage; franchised in 1993) YUKI (Food and beverage; franchised 2019),and Pepper Lunch (Food and beverage; franchised in 2008).
Besides their business ventures, the Zamora family are also active in politics: Mayor Francis Zamora and Congresswoman Ysabel Zamora are currently serving as Mayor and Congresswoman of San Juan city respectively. While the sister of the Mayor and Congresswoman, Congresswoman Amparo Maria Zamora is the representative for the second district of Taguig City.
