The Philippines’ Berong Nickel Corp is looking at buying an integrated steel plant in China’s Guangxi province to produce nickel pig iron and stainless steel within one of its main markets.

Berong Nickel said on Tuesday it would do due diligence on the three-year old plant over the next six months before making a decision.

If it does buy the plant it would convert part or all of the facility to produce nickel pig iron and eventually stainless steel. The plant currently makes hot rolled steel bars and billets for the local market.

Berong said the plant would require 1.2 million tonnes of nickel laterite ore feedstock per year, enough to produce around 15,000-16,000 tonnes of nickel.

The group, which has its mine on the southwestern Philippine island of Palawan, would provide the ore. Based on a contained nickel content of 3.5 million tonnes, the mine is possibly the world’s fourth-largest nickel resource.

London-listed Toledo Mining has a 56.1 percent stake in Berong, Australia’s Investika Ltd. has 18.8 percent, and Atlas 25.1 percent.

Berong started direct nickel ore shipments from its mine in early February to China and aims to export 1.5 million tonnes next year, rising to 9 million tonnes by 2012.

It is planning to build a steel plant in the Philippines to upgrade the ore shipped.

In September, Berong bagged a five-year deal to supply laterite ore to Australia’s Queensland Nickel Pty Ltd, a unit of BHP Billiton , the world’s biggest miner.

Berong has an inferred resource of 275 million dry tonnes of laterite ore containing an average of 1.3 percent nickel per tonne and 0.074 percent cobalt.