OceanaGold to spend $5 million for Philippines exploration

MANILA, Philippines — Australian-Canadian miner OceanaGold Philippines Inc. (OGPI) said it plans to spend $5 million (about P280 million) for exploration activities this year within its permit area of approximately 7,000 hectares.

OGPI said around 8,000 meters of drilling is planned from surface across its financial or technical assistance agreement (FTAA) area at True Blue, which it considers as a potential off-set extension to the Didipio Mine, Napartan and D’Fox sites.

The underground exploration drilling is expected to continue in the fourth quarter, according to the mining firm.

“OGPI continues to see attractive exploration potential in and around its Didipio mine,” company said while noting that it has “discovered” and “converted” enough new gold and copper to replace what it has mined over the years.

Last year, OGPI disclosed its plans to find “another” Didipio mine as part of its expansion program. The firm allocated $2 million to kickstart its exploration program last year.

The mining firm said it has mined and converted to reserves approximately 2.6 million ounces of gold and 343,000 metric tons of copper from 2012 to 2024, representing an increase by at least half in its reserves since it began operations more than a decade ago.

OGPI said Didipio started with 1.68 million ounces of gold reserves and 229,000 metric tons of copper reserves in 2012. At the end of 2024, the mine has a standing reserve of about 1.23 million ounces of gold and 150,000 metric tons of copper.

“This year, approximately $500 million (P28 billion) of export revenue is coming into the Philippines. They are amazing numbers which is what mining can do and we want to keep on doing it,” said OceanaGold Corp. chairman Paul Benson.

OGPI earlier reported a 36-percent drop in its first quarter net income after revenues fell due to lower gold output.

The company’s earnings fell by 35.65 percent year-on-year to $7.4 million from $11.5 million a year ago.

For 2025, OGPI targets to produce between 85,000 and 105,000 ounces of gold and between 13,000 MT and 15,000 MT of copper.