philippines gold, page-5

Here's another story on the subject:

Vol. XVIII, No. 181
Friday, April 8, 2005 | MANILA, PHILIPPINES

Corporate World
BY ROMMER M. BALABA, Reporter

Four foreign firms keen on two mothballed mining projects
Four foreign mining firms have shown interest in two dormant mining projects the government plans to privatize, the Mines and Geosciences Bureau chief yesterday said.

"These mines are generating interest. But we hope that the interest will translate into investments," the Mines bureau’s Horacio C. Ramos said on the sidelines of a mining forum. He identified the two firms as the Batong Buhay Gold Project and the Amacan Copper Project.

"Phelps Dodge Mining Co. and Crew Mining Corp. are interested in North Davao while Anvil Mining Corp. and Xtrata Mining Corp. are interested in Batong Buhay," Mr. Ramos said.

"The attraction is not on the delineated ore body but the ore body around it, but that still needs to be explored," Mr. Ramos said.

Batong Buhay, a copper and gold mining project in Pasil, Kalinga, was closed in the 1990s after proponent Batong Buhay Gold Mines, Inc. failed to sustain operations. The Amacan Copper project in Compostela Valley, better known as North Davao, was shut down in the 1980s. The project was operated by North Davao Mining Corp.

Both projects are now under joint oversight by the government’s Privatization and Management Office and the National Resources Mining Development Corp. of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

The sites are seen to have world-class deposits of copper and gold, which when developed can have productive mining lives of as long as 20 years assuming at least 5,000 metric tons of ore are extracted daily, Mr. Ramos added.

"We will do a mining evaluation and impact assessment [for the sites] and are looking for funding for it, so we can assess the economic value [for them]," he said.

Meanwhile, the Mines bureau reported that value metallic elements produced last year went up 8% to P29.49 billion from P27.37 billion a year earlier on higher metal prices.