Philex fasttracks exploration in Bayugo on favorable estimate

MANILA, Philippines - Philex Mining Corp. is accelerating exploration activities in its Bayugo prospect in Tubod, Surigao del Norte following the favorable mineral resource estimate prepared by Independent Resource Estimations (South Africa).

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Philex said initial mineral resource estimate showed 85.7 million dry metric tons (dmt) of indicated resource and 32.7 million dmt of inferred resource. “The mineral resources are considered to have reasonable prospects for economic extraction,” Philex said.

Philex president Jose Ernesto C. Villaluna Jr. said the Bayugo mineral deposit is a porphyry-hosted copper gold occurrence in an island-arc setting, located in the island of Mindanao and about one kilometer northwest of the Boyongan copper gold deposit.

Boyongan and Bayugo are within the Silangan property in which Philex has a 50 percent interest (purchased earlier from Anglo American) while the other 50 percent is held by 81 percent-owned Canadian unit Philex Gold Inc.

Philex said external consultants of Philex Gold and in-house geologists of Philex Mining have estimated a cut-off grade of 0.4 percent copper based on drilling and assay results from 43 exploration holes available on Sept. 30, 2009.

The Bayugo deposit is now comparable to the Boyongan deposit, which was previously announced at 104 million dmt of measured and 19.8 million dmt of inferred resource.

Meanwhile, Philex and Philex Gold have deployed 11 drill rigs in the Bayugo area to hasten the step-out and in-fill drilling to elevate the status of inferred resources to the indicated category which is necessary for the completion of the pre-feasibility study.

The current drilling at the Bayugo deposit has defined an outer limit copper-gold zone which approximately measures 1,000 meters by 300 meters in area, with thickness of 400 meters.

The resource estimate is based on the verified drill results from 43 exploration holes available up to Sept. 30, 2009. 

The exploration program at the Bayugo project is ongoing and at the time of this mineral resource estimate, a number of excellent drill results have been received which are not included in the estimate. 

The resource estimates use the definitions and guidelines of the Philippine Minerals Reporting Code (PMRC) and the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) standards and definitions.