safe n sound THE DEPARTMENT of Trade and Industry has identified...

safe n sound THE DEPARTMENT of Trade and Industry has identified five big-ticket mining projects that could bring in a total of $4.3 billion between 2005 and 2009 following the renewed confidence of foreign investors in the local industry.

DTI named the projects as the Far-Southeast gold project in Marokayan, Benguet, with potential investments of $500 million; the Nonoc nickel project in Surigao del Norte with $800 million; and the Boyongan copper project also in Surigao del Norte, Mindoro nickel project in Mindoro Oriental, and Pujada nickel project in Davao oriental--each with $1 billion.



Other projects are expected to yield an additional $1.7 billion to complete the projected $6 billion in investments flowing into the mining sector between 2005 and 2009.

The projects are part of 23 mining and mineral processing projects that the government and local mining firms have aggressively promoted in international roadshows and investment missions launched since the start of the year.

According to the DTI, the biggest seven of the 23 projects alone represented a total of $3 billion in investments and some 4,500 new jobs.

Investor interest in local mining projects perked up when the Supreme Court last December upheld the Mining Act of 1995, which allows full foreign ownership of companies engaged in large-scale exploration, development and use of mineral resources.

In a related development, DTI officials said the government was looking at farming out to private operators at least five foreclosed or abandoned mines held by the Privatization Management Office, with assets totaling P23.9 billion.

The mining concerns include those of Basay Mining Corp., Batong Buhay Gold Mines Inc., North Davao Mining Corp., Nonoc Mining and Industrial Corp., and Hercules Minerals and Oils Inc.

Officials said the government was exploring the possibility of creating one company per mining claim and then sub-contracting the development to foreign companies in order to attract large-scale mining contracts.

Last week, the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines said up to $555 million in additional mining investments were expected to flow in as the promotion of a second batch of 37 new and unexplored mining areas to foreign investors began.

CMP president Benjamin Philip G. Romualdez said in an interview the new areas were first promoted to junior mining firms in Canada during an investment mission in Toronto two weeks ago.

IN there and at em,please do your own research.
this here is just the beginning.