New Rapu-Rapu owners allot $50 M for facilities upgrade

The new owners of the Rapu-Rapu polymetallic project are investing  $40 million to $50 million to upgrade the facilities of the mine site located on Rapu-Rapu Island in Albay.

This was announced yesterday by Datu Dr. Mohammad Ajib Anuar, chief executive officer of Malaysian Smelting Corp. (MSC) which acquired 30 percent of the Rapu-Rapu polymetallic project in partnership with the LG Group of Korea and Kores (the investment arm of the Korean government) which controls 70 percent of the Rapu-Rapu project through the holding company Philco Resources Limited.

The new consortium is hoping to recommission the processing plant by August this year, according to Anuar. He said the target annual production is 10,000 tons of copper ore, 50,000 ounces of gold, 600,000 ozs. of silver and 14,000 tons of zinc.

Philco and MSC just recently completed acquisition of the Rapu-Rapu polymetallic project from Australia’s Lafayette Mining Limited.

LG and Kores, through their joint venture company Philco Resources Limited (Philco) and MSC, reached an agreement with Lafayette Mining Limited last March 25 this year to purchase Lafayette’s 74-percent stake in Lafayette Philippines Inc. (LPI).

The consortium reportedly paid an initial $18 million to Lafayette.

LPI owns 99.9 percent of the Rapu-Rapu Processing Inc. (RRPI) which holds a mineral processing permit (MPP) from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

At the same time, LPI also controls 40 percent of Rapu-Rapu Minerals Inc. (RRMI) which holds the mineral production sharing agreement (MPSA) for the Rapu-Rapu mine.

LPI also holds a 40-percent stake in Rapu-Rapu Holdings, Inc. (RRHI) which, in turn, controls 60 percent of of RRMI.

LPI’s partner in RRHI is F & N Holdings, Inc. which owns 60 percent.

F & N Holdings, Inc. is represented by lawyers whose principals are unknown.

The purchase was finalized on April 21 this year.

Lafayette was forced to give up the Rapu-Rapu project following a mine tailings spill that forced the Australian mining firm to shut down operations of the copper and zinc mine in Rapu-Rapu Island in Albay.

The shutdown resulted in heavy financial losses to Lafayette which eventually opted to sell its stake in the Rapu-Rapu project to the Korean and Malaysian consortium.