Philex eyes Oceana Gold's Vizcaya project

MANILA, Philippines - Aside from the Tampakan project of Xstrata, Philex Mining Corp. is also looking at Oceana Gold’s Didipio gold project in Nueva Vizcaya.

This was revealed yesterday by Jose Ernesto Villaluna Jr., president and chief operating officer of Philex on the sidelines of a three-day conference and exhibition on mining at the Manila Hotel.

Villaluna said Philex is now conducting studies and may soon undertake a due diligence for the acquisition of Australian Indophil’s 37.5-percent stake in Sagitarrius Mines Inc. (SMI) which is the Philippine subsidiary controlled by Swiss-based Xstrata (62.5 percent).

In addition to this, Villaluna said Philex is also looking at other projects including Didipio.

“We are conducting studies on these projects to find fatal flaws and possible opportunities,” he said.

Both the Tampakan and Didipio projects are facing problems.

The Tampakan project which straddes South Cotabato, Davao del Sur and Sultan Kudarat is faced with an open pit mining ban passed by the provincial board of South Cotabato.

Chinese firm Zijin had made an offer for Indophil’s stake in SMI, but backed out following the approval by the South Cotabato provincial board of the open pit mining ban.

The Didipio project of Oceana Gold has been moribund since 2008 after encountering security problems. Oceana Gold has been trying for a couple of years now to attract a strategic investor in the project.

Meanwhile, Villaluna said Philex is continuing to undertake the developing of its Bulawan project in Negros as well as its Silangan project in Mindanao.