reyes and plo, page-3

RAPU RAPU ISLAND, Philippines, Feb 5 (Reuters) - The
Philippines will decide on Thursday whether to allow Australia's
Lafayette Mining Ltd. to reopen its copper and zinc mine
here, Environment Secretary Angelo Reyes said on Monday.
Reyes was widely expected to announce the reopening of the
mine more than a year after it was shut due to cyanide spills.
But he said a team of mining and pollution experts would
visit Rapu Rapu on Tuesday and then report to the environment
department's Pollution Adjudication Board.
"The objective is to validate the lifting of the cease and
desist order," Reyes said by telephone.
Reyes had been scheduled to visit Rapu Rapu but his
helicopter could not land there because of bad weather. He spoke
to reporters assembled on Rapu Rapu from nearby Legazpi City.
The Rapu Rapu polymetallic project was the first
foreign-owned mine to open in the Philippines after the Supreme
Court upheld in December 2004 the legality of a law granting full
foreign ownership of local mining projects from 40 percent.
But the spills in Rapu Rapu, 350 km (222 miles) southeast of
Manila, in October 2005 raised the ire of powerful Philippine
Catholic bishops and environment groups.
The mine started gold production in July 2005.
The accident occurred just as the government was rolling out
the red carpet to lure foreign investors to pour money and help
revive its once lucrative mining industry.
The Philippine government has said the country has $1
trillion worth of unexplored copper, gold, nickel and zinc.
Rapu Rapu is one of 24 priority projects that the government
said needed total investments of at least $6.5 billion to revive
old mines and bring into production newly identified lodes.
Before the suspension, the mine was forecast to generate
revenues of $350 million a year from production of 10,000 tonnes
of copper in concentrate, 14,000 tonnes of zinc, 50,000 ounces of
gold and 600,000 ounces of silver.
LG International Corp and state-run Korea Resources Corp.
(KORES) together hold 26 percent stake in the Rapu Rapu mine
while Australia's Lafayette owns the rest.
Last week, Mines and Geosciences Bureau director Horacio
Ramos had said Lafayette may be allowed to restart Rapu Rapu
after finishing all the repairs caused by typhoon Durian in late
November.
Typhoon Durian in late November toppled electrical poles and
damaged housing facilities for the staff at the mine. But there
was no critical damage to the base metals plant, a Lafayette
spokesman has said.
The government allowed Lafayette to test its base metals
facility starting July 10 till Dec. 8 last year.
Last month, the government allowed Lafayette to ship a total
of 2,670 tonnes of zinc and copper concentrate which it produced
during the test run of the Rapu Rapu project last year.
Rapu Rapu's incidental production was sold by LG
International to China, Lafayette spokesman Bayani Agabin has
said.
Lafayette has an agreement with LG International to sell its
production from Rapu Rapu.
Agabin has said he expected the next concentrate shipment
from Rapu Rapu by April if the government allowed his firm to
restart this month.
((Reporting by Dolly Aglay, editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and
Ben Tan; Reuters Messaging:
[email protected]; +632 841-8936))
Keywords: LAFAYETTE/RAPURAPU


Monday 05 February 2007 17:06:07 AEST