Mining investments hit $525M in Q1

Despite spirited anti-mining campaigns, committed investment inflows into the local mining industry reached $525 million in the first quarter alone and is bound to increase further in the coming months, said Chamber of Mines of the Philippines (CMP) president Benjamin Philip Romualdez.

"While there will always be opposition to mining, the general sentiment of investors is very positive. There is a movement forward, with some of the projects on stream, while others are merely delayed," said Romualdez.

He said that foreign investors remain confident that government will stick to its policy of revitalizing the mining sector despite congressional moves to review the mining law.

"As the dust begins to settle, people realize that most of the anti-mining efforts are rhetorical," stressed Romualdez.

From January to March this year, mining companies that announced new or additional investments included Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., Ltd. (SMMC), one of the world’s biggest nickel producers and refiners, which has a 54-percent stake in the Coral Bay Nickel Corp.’s nickel and refinery processing project in Rio Tuba, Palawan.

Sumitomo which spent $120 million last year to double its nickel processing plant’s output to 20,000 metric tons (MT) in the next two to three years, is spending an additional $280 million this year to further expand its existing facilities such as its high-pressure acid leaching (HPAL) plant that processes low-grade oxides to produce nickel/cobalt mixed sulfide (MS), an intermediary product of nickel refining. HPAL is a revolutionary process, recently developed, enabling recovery of nickel from low-grade oxide ores at low cost.

Atlas Consolidated Mining Corp. has completed its $120-million financial requirements and will raise an additional $50 million this year to restart the development of its copper mines in Toledo, Cebu.

Canadian mining firm TVI Pacific Inc. which is listed in the Toronto Stock Exchange has earmarked $15 million this year to expand its mining activities in the Canatuan orebody in Zamboanga del Norte in Mindanao.

TVI filed applications for new exploration grounds in the Zamboanga Peninsula and also plans to pursue exploration of other properties in its inventory. Last year, TVI invested $7 million or about P385 million for the Canatuan development program which involves the immediate re-activation of the company’s existing precious metals processing plant located in Zamboanga del Norte.

The project which started in 2003, includes the development of both a gold and silver-rich oxide zone, and an underlying gold, silver, copper, and zinc - rich, volcanic-hosted massive sulphide (VMS) zone.

The re-activation of the existing processing plant represents the first step in a multi-phase plan to develop the Canatuan deposit mineral resources and to realize the full production potential of the extensive metal-bearing VMS belt surrounding the Canatuan deposit.

Indophil Resources which is now undertaking exploration work at the Tampakan Mines in South Cotabato with local mining firm Sagittarius Mines, expects one of its partners, Australia-based Xstrata Mining Co. to exercise its option to invest $52 million into the Tampakan mining property and acquire a 60-percent stake in the company by July.

Apex Mining Corp. and foreign partner Crew Gold are jointly spending $8 million this year to revive idle mines.

Earlier, the Mines and Geosciences Bureau said there are strong interests by both foreign and local investors to pursue in the next five years 24 medium and large-scale mining projects requiring new investments of $8 billion.

The primary minerals production will come from gold, copper and nickel mining projects.A mining update by the MGB show that nine mining firms are still pursuing groundwork activities in preparation for subsequent full-scale mining operation.

As this developed, the CMP is collaborating with various stakeholders to come up with a guidebook that would among others, establish protocols and define responsibilities and obligations of mining companies to their host communities.

"We have very good mining standards but we will come up with our own standards that will incorporate the nuances or peculiarities of the local mining industry. With this, we hope to remove the suspicion that big mining companies are colluding with the government to advance only their economic interests with total disregard for their legitimate concerns," said Romualdez.