Ann: Trading Halt-RTG.TO, page-162

http://business.inquirer.net/217100/biz-buzz-case-closed

After the sound and fury
The Masbate mine continues to “operate uninterrupted” even upon receipt of the audit results from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, which recommended a suspension of its operations.

This follows a similar development with OceanaGold Corp., whose local unit maintains output plans as the Didipio mine in Nueva Vizcaya remains in operation.

“We have received and analyzed the comprehensive audit report findings and determined that they are broadly consistent with the preliminary notice (received on Sept. 27) and the action plan developed to date,” says B2Gold president and chief executive Clive T. Johnson.

B2Gold owns Philippine Gold Processing and Refining Corp., owner of the mineral processing facility at the Masbate project, the country’s biggest gold producer.

The Canadian firm (40 percent) is also the joint-venture partner of Zoom Mineral Holdings Inc. (60 percent) in Filminera Resources Corp., which holds the mining tenements that include the Masbate mine.

Johnson says the points raised in the DENR audit “are principally related to administrative and regulatory compliance issues which B2Gold is confident will be resolved by continuing to work closely with the appropriate government agencies.”

“The audit report also provides a number of additional recommendations that we fully support,” he says.
Similarly, OceanaGold received the audit report on its Didipio mine, the second-largest gold producer in the country.
The Australian firm said the findings in the report “relate mostly to a need to further educate a broader group of stakeholders on specific aspects of the operations.”

OceanaGold says the “findings” on the Didipio operations publicized during last month’s DENR press conference were not included as findings in the audit report.

“I am very confident that our responses to the DENR will satisfy all of the findings and recommendations that have been raised,” OceanaGold president and chief executive Mick Wilkes says.

“I am also pleased that the Didipio operation was nominated by the (MGB) for the 2016 Presidential ‘Most Environmentally Responsible Mining Operation” for a third straight year,” Wilkes says.