From yesterday's Philippine Daily...

From yesterday's Philippine Daily Inquirer:

http://services.inquirer.net/print/print.php?article_id=20110306-323856

No contest over Tampakan

THE exclusivity period between Indophil Resources NL and San Miguel Corp. for the latter to decide whether to acquire more shares in the Australian company that controls a third of the $5.9-billion Tampakan copper-gold project may have lapsed, but San Miguel president Ramon S. Ang doesn?t care.

RSA says the conglomerate does not need any exclusivity protection for it to hike its stake in Indophil, if and when it?s ready to do so. He says no other group has expressed interest in Tampakan. Even assuming that a challenger may come out in the future, SMC already has the upper hand since it has a 10.1-percent stake in Indophil.

Industry sources say the delay in SMC?s investment in Indophil was caused by a number of related legal/court disputes that must be sorted out before RSA puts more chips into this huge project, which is touted as Southeast Asia?s richest, untapped copper and gold deposit.

Philex Mining?the local mining platform of the First Pacific group and the only other group widely believed to be interested in or capable of engaging SMC in a bidding war over Tampakan?seems inclined to pass up the opportunity.

First Pacific Co. Ltd. big boss Manuel V. Pangilinan, who is also chairman of Philex, said the project was so huge and the payback so long. ?Matagal matutulog pera mo (Your money will be tied up for a long time),? MVP says, adding that even a group with the size of First Pacific would find the $2-billion equity component too large to chew.?Doris C. Dumlao