Global Ferronickel Holdings, Inc. (PSE: FNI), one of the biggest nickel ore mining companies in the Philippines, announced that it made significantly more money in 2025 compared to the year before. Let’s break down what happened in simple terms.

How Much Money Did FNI Make?

According to the company’s press release dated May 20, 2026, FNI reported some impressive numbers for their full year 2025 results:

• Total revenues: ₱8.555 billion (that’s how much money came into the company)
• Net income: ₱1.422 billion (that’s the profit after paying all expenses)
• Earnings per share: ₱0.2774 (that’s how much profit each stock share earned)

The most exciting part? Their net income jumped by 91.1% compared to 2024. This means FNI almost doubled its profits in just one year!

What Does FNI Do?

Think of FNI as a company that digs up nickel ore from the ground. Nickel is a special metal used to make stainless steel, batteries for electric cars, and many other important things. FNI has two main mining locations: one in Surigao and another in Palawan.

Why Did They Make More Money?

The main reason FNI earned more is because nickel prices went up significantly. The average price they sold their nickel ore for increased by 33.3% to US$32.34 per WMT (wet metric ton) from US$24.26 in 2024.

Imagine you’re selling lemonade. If you sold each cup for ₱10 last year but can sell it for ₱13 this year, you’d make more money even if you sold the same number of cups. That’s basically what happened to FNI.

The press release explains that nickel prices went up because there wasn’t enough nickel available worldwide (tight supply), while many countries in Asia still needed to buy it (sustained demand).

How Much Nickel Did They Sell?

FNI’s mining revenues went up 13.7% to ₱8.631 billion. Here’s how their two mining sites performed:

• Surigao: Generated ₱5.066 billion (59% of total revenues), up 8.5%
• Palawan: Generated ₱3.565 billion (41% of total revenues), up 21.9%

Interestingly, FNI actually shipped less nickel ore in 2025—about 4.605 million WMT, which is 15.5% less than the previous year. The reason? Heavy rainfall reduced the number of days they could operate their mines.

Where Did They Ship the Nickel?

Most of FNI’s nickel ore went to China—89% of all shipments. Indonesia received 11%. These countries buy the nickel ore to use in their factories.

Smart Strategy: Shipping More Low-Grade Ore

Here’s something interesting: FNI changed what type of nickel they shipped. Nickel ore comes in different “grades” (quality levels):

• Low-grade ore: Contains less nickel but still valuable
• Medium-grade ore: Contains more nickel, more valuable

In 2025, FNI strategically shipped more low-grade ore (83% of total shipments, up from 65% in 2024), while medium-grade ore shipments dropped to just 17% from 35% the year before.

But here’s the good news: even low-grade ore prices jumped 53.7% to US$30.10 per WMT. Medium-grade ore prices rose 31.1% to US$43.33 per WMT. So FNI was able to sell both types at much better prices.

What Happened at Each Mining Site?

Surigao (PGMC)

The Surigao site, operated by Platinum Group Metals Corporation (PGMC), was smart about preparing for bad weather. They stockpiled (stored up) nickel ore early in the year. When heavy rains came and reduced working days, they could still ship from their stockpile.

Total shipments reached 3.161 million WMT, down 20.8% from 2024 due to weather. But they sold their nickel at 37.5% higher prices (US$27.98 per WMT vs. US$20.34), which helped make up for shipping less volume.

Palawan (Ipilan)

The Palawan site, operated by Ipilan Nickel Corporation, got great news in May 2025—their mining agreement was renewed until September 2043! This means they can keep mining for many more years.

Despite bad weather, Palawan’s shipments only dropped slightly by 0.9% to 1.444 million WMT. They also enjoyed higher prices, selling at US$41.87 per WMT, up 19.7% from the previous year.

How Much Did It Cost to Run the Business?

Total costs and expenses increased only slightly by 1.3% to ₱6.745 billion. Let’s look at the two main types of costs:

Cost of Sales (Down 4.2%)

These are direct costs of mining, which actually went down to ₱3.900 billion. Why? Because:

• They hired fewer contractors since they shipped less ore
• Shifting to more low-grade ore meant lower mining costs
• They did more exploration work themselves instead of hiring outsiders
• They used less fuel because operations were slower in Surigao

However, they did spend more on protecting the environment and rehabilitating mined areas.

Operating Expenses (Up 9.9%)

These went up to ₱2.845 billion mainly because:

• Shipping costs increased
• They paid more taxes and royalties (because revenues were higher)
• They hired more people and consultants

Investing for the Future

FNI spent ₱464.3 million (5.4% of revenues) on capital expenditures. This money went toward buying:

• Heavy machinery like excavators and dump trucks
• Transportation equipment
• Building roads to access new mining areas

Think of this like buying better tools so you can do your work faster and better in the future.

How Much Nickel Is Still in the Ground?

The good news is FNI still has plenty of nickel left to mine:

• Surigao: 109.1 million WMT of measured and indicated resources; 48.6 million WMT of proven and probable reserves
• Palawan: 79.0 million WMT of measured and indicated resources; 38.3 million WMT of proven and probable reserves

“Resources” means nickel they believe is there. “Reserves” means nickel they’re confident they can profitably mine.

Helping Communities and the Environment

FNI didn’t just focus on making money. According to the press release, they also spent money helping people and protecting nature:

• ₱66.6 million for Social Development programs (helping communities)
• ₱277.3 million for Environmental Protection programs
• ₱1.519 billion paid to government as taxes, royalties, and fees
• ₱78.2 million given to indigenous cultural communities

They supported schools, health services, farming livelihoods, and helped rehabilitate mined areas through tree planting and protecting rivers and coasts.

PGMC (their Surigao operation) even won awards from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources for their river rehabilitation work and mining forest management.

What’s Next for FNI?

According to the press release, FNI has several growth plans:

• Expanding Palawan’s production capacity from 1.5 million to 3.0 million WMT per year (currently going through government approval)
• Exploring new mining sites in Southern Luzon, Central Visayas, and MIMAROPA Region
• Looking at opportunities to work with Indonesia on nickel projects
• Considering downstream processing (turning raw nickel ore into more valuable products)

FNI President Atty. Dante R. Bravo said their 2025 performance shows the company’s discipline and ability to adapt, successfully dealing with weather challenges while taking advantage of good market conditions.

About Global Ferronickel Holdings, Inc.

FNI is a holding company listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol FNI. Its main subsidiary is Platinum Group Metals Corporation, which is the Philippines’ second-largest nickel ore producer. The company has mining operations in Claver, Surigao del Norte and Brooke’s Point, Palawan.

This article is based on the company’s official press release and disclosures filed with the Philippine Stock Exchange’s Electronic Disclosure Generation Technology (PSE EDGE) system. For the complete and official version of the announcement, readers may visit the PSE EDGE website and search for the company’s filing directly.