Industry sources said Apex is considering participating in the privatization of North Davao rather than wait for the outcome of the case it filed against North Davao.
Apex alleged that its mining claims in Campostela Valley overlap with that of North Davao Mining. The case has been pending with the Mines and Geosciences Bureau’s regional arbitration panel since 1998.
The same source also doubted the attractiveness of North Davao given the legal issues concerning its mining claims in Compostela Valley.
NRMDC president Artemio Disini earlier said that several local and foreign mining groups have already expressed interest in bidding for North Davao.
Bidding for North Davao should have begun late last year but was stalled pending the transfer of the company’s trusteeship from the Privatization Management Office(PMO) to Natural Resources Mining Development Corp. (NRMDC).
NRMDC is a joint venture between DENR-Natural and Resources Development Corp. and Philippine National Oil Co.-Energy Development Corp.
Mining assets of North Davao have all be been sold by the PMO. Around P86 million has been raised from the sale.
Apex’s principal asset are the Masara and Teresa gold mines in Compostela Valley in southeastern Mindanao.
Crew has been upgrading Apex’s facilities and should start production early this year. It had mobilized three drill rigs to initially conduct 9,000 meters of resource-definition drilling in more than 10 sites and will be substantially adding more drill rigs this month.
Crew Gold is also expanding its presence internationally. Only last month, Crew Gold offered to buy Guinor Gold Corp. for $328 million all in cash. Guinor operates a West African gold project in Guinea that is expected to produce around 300,000 ounces of gold a year.