Alsons unit to build $890-M power plant for Tampakan

MANILA, Philippines - A subsidiary of listed holding firm Alsons Consolidated Resources Inc. (ACR) will build an $890-million power plant to supply the needs of the $5.9-billion Tampakan copper and gold mining operation in Mindanao.

In a statement, ACR said its unit Alsons Energy Development Corp. (AEDC) signed an agreement to supply the power requirements of Sagittarius Mines Inc.’s Tampakan project.

Under the deal, AEDC will develop a 400-megawatt (MW) open-cycle gas turbine and coal-fired power station, located in Maasim, Sarangani. The power generation project is composed of a 100-MW diesel plant that will back up the 300-MW coal-fired facility.

The new power facility will be owned and operated by A/S Power Development Inc., an ACR power subsidiary specifically organized to establish and manage the 400-MW plant.

Oscar Benedict E. Contreras, corporate communications manager of Alsons Power Group., said ACR will spend $892 million for the power plant, whose construction is expected to start in 2016.

“The plant will begin to ramp up power as early as 2017 and full operations are expected to be under way by the middle of 2019,” Contreras said.

SMI earlier said it would keep its timetable for construction by 2015 and start of commercial operations by 2019.

“SMI selected AEDC as its preferred power generation supplier following studies into the technical, environmental and commercial viability of a range of power generation options,” ACR said.

ACR subsidiary Alsons Power Holdings Corp. holds a 20-percent stake in Australia-listed Indophil Resources, which owns 37.5 percent of the Tampakan project, Southeast Asia’s largest undeveloped copper-gold prospect.

To secure an environmental compliance certificate (ECC), AEDC consulted with host communities in September. An ECC guarantees that a project will not harm the environment.

Negotiation for project financing is expected to start this year, ACR said.

Last month, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) finally issued an ECC for the Tampakan project. The DENR had repeatedly rejected the miner’s application for an ECC because of an existing ban in South Cotabato on the use of the open-pit mining method.