Australia’s Rusina Mining Ltd. said on Wednesday it had signed an agreement with European Nickel Plc to fund a feasibility study on Rusina’s Acoje nickel deposit in the Philippines.

In a separate agreement, Philippine civil contracting group DMCI Holdings Inc has agreed to become a partner in the project, which includes investment in a ferro-nickel plant on Semirara Island, Rusina said.

Subject to approval by its shareholders, European Nickel will pay 1 million pounds ($1.9 million) for 5,882,352 Rusina shares at A$0.40, each with an attached option at a strike price of A$0.50, Rusina said.

European Nickel’s involvement excludes the chromite and platinum group metals contained on the property, which Rusina said it intends to explore and develop on its own.

The study was likely to take between two and three years and will include a trial heap leaching operation to determine whether tropical laterite ores from Acoje can be successfully processed to extract metal, the company said.

European Nickel is seeking to use similar technology to produce nickel at its Caldag project in Turkey. ($1=0.50 pounds) ($1=A$1.22)