Benguet seeks guarantee for P150-million finance deal

MANILA, Philippines - Listed firm Benguet Corp. is negotiating with the PhilExim Guarantee Corp. to provide a guarantee for a P150-million financing arrangement that the local mining firm is seeking to start Stage 1 operation of its old Acupan gold mine in Benguet.

This was revealed yesterday by Renato Claraval, the new chief financial officer of Benguet.

According to Claraval, the PhilExim guarantee will enable Benguet to secure much needed financing for its Acupan project in the face of Benguet’s continuing debt restructuring.

The Acupan gold mine operated for 65 years from 1927 to 1992 and produced at least 5.54 million ounces of gold from 21.7 million metric tons (MT) of ore.

Acupan closed in 1992 due to low metal prices and high production cost.

However, Claraval said, with current high metal prices, reopening the Acupan mine is now viable.

Acupan used to have a production rate of 1,500 metric tons (MT) per day.

As of 1989, Acupan had a measured resource of 15.38 million MT at an estimated average grade of 3.74 grams per MT of gold.