St. Augustine hands over Benguet settlement documents to Nadecor

MANILA, Philippines - St. Augustine Gold and Copper Limited and Nationwide Development Corp. (Nadecor) jointly announced the handover by St. Augustine to Nadecor of the Benguet settlement documents, which finalized the settlement with Benguet Mining Corp. for sale of its operating rights in the King-king copper-gold project in Pantukan, Compostela Valley.

This gives the joint venture clear title to the King-king project. The clear title facilitates Nadecor’s ability to assign the King-king project MPSA to the joint venture mining company, and finalizes St. Augustine’s equity as the joint venture partner. It also provides a corporate structure within which the project can operate as it moves forward in development.

“We are very pleased to have reached this watershed event in the project and our partnership,” said Andrew J. Russell, president of St. Augustine. “With this turnover, we begin the joint venture phase of development and cooperation between Nadecor and St. Augustine, which will directly benefit thousands of Filipinos and be a big boost to the Philippine economy.”

Nadecor president Conrado T. Calalang praised St. Augustine’s role in the settlement and the future of the project. “St. Augustine has been lock-step with us in the development of the project and we are pleased, not just with the technical and financial benefits they bring, but more importantly their commitment to integrity and transparency in their dealings with Nadecor and the community, which spells success for the project.”

St. Augustine reached the full and final settlement with Benguet on Aug. 30, 2011 for the King-king MPSA (mineral production sharing agreement) with an amended heads of terms agreement that allowed all future payments to be settled with a single, final payment of $10,250,000. Prior to this, St. Augustine had already given a downpayment of $8,000,000, for a total settlement package of $18,250,000.

Under the original heads of terms agreement signed in July 2010, between Benguet and St. Augustine, through its subsidiary, St. Augustine Mining Ltd. (SAML), Benguet agreed to a settlement with Nadecor on outstanding issues on the King-king Project, including the following:

• Assign and transfer its interest in the Sagittarius Alpha Realty Corp. claims surrounding the King-king project to Nadecor;

• Assign and transfer its interest in the Pantukan Mineral Corp. (PMC) shares and operating rights in the PMC claims surrounding the King-king Project to Nadecor;

• Terminate and complete the release of all of its rights, titles, interests and claims in the operating agreement with Nadecor;

• Assign or transfer all of its rights, titles, interests and claims in the King-king MPSA to Nadecor;

• All of Benguet’s affiliates shall release, assign or transfer any other rights, titles, interests or claims they have in respect of the King-king Project; and

• Complete turnover of all books, records, project information and project samples.

Turnover of the settlement documents to Nadecor was delayed until the issues created by dissident minority shareholder Jose Ricafort were recently resolved by the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court, and the duly-elected Nadecor board led by Calalang was clearly recognized and its authority confirmed.

Calalang noted that the Court of Appeals decision dated Feb. 18, 2013 is legally binding and immediately effective, and removes any doubt as to who is authorized to represent Nadecor as its Board of Directors, and therefore the authority of the newly elected Board and the Board immediately preceding it is clear.