Aussie firm seeks local partners for three mining ventures in RP

Australian mining company Indophil Resources NL is expanding its mining activities in the Philippines and is now scouting for partners to undertake three mineral exploration projects in Camarines Norte in the Bicol Region, Leyte in the Visayas, and Central Mindanao.

"The company plans to carry on with three more exploration projects in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. We are currently talking with several potential investors and we expect to come out with a positive announcement in the next three weeks," said Tony W. Robbins, Indophil managing director.

Robbins said that for Luzon, the mine prospect in Labo, Camarines Norte looks promising, along with the targeted sites in Leyte and Central Mindanao.

Indophil is already working on its Tampakan Copper Project with local mining company Sagittarius Mines chaired by Paul Dominguez. The company with a 95 percent beneficial operating is investing $650-million in the project in Tampakan, South Cotabato.

The other partners are Xstrata Queensland Limited, Alsons Development Corp. which have acquired rights in Tampakan that if exercised will see a final operational interest of 62.5 percent, Indophil 32.5 percent and Alsons, five percent.

Indophil, said Robbins, is currently conducting detailed exploration drilling and feasibility studies and is scheduled to start commercial operation by 2009. He added that the Tampakan mine is expected to yield 140,000 ounces of gold and another 140,000 metric (MT) tons of copper yearly.

Indophil is developing a substantial project portfolio in the Philippines for copper and gold, comprising eight geographically separate projects ranging from the advanced Tampakan copper-gold Project currently in a preliminary-feasibility stage to the early reconnaissance stage Northern Sierra Madre Project in Northern Luzon.

These projects currently comprise five granted licenses and 12 twelve tenement applications totaling 2,163 square kilometers. Tenements include Financial and Technical Assistance Agreements (FTAA), Mineral Production Sharing Agreements (MPSA) and Exploration Permits (EP).

The company is now one of the most active explorers in the country and its focus is on the discovery of epithermal, porphyry copper and related styles of mineralization including skarn deposits.

At Tampakan, mineral resource estimate indicate 900 MT at 0.75 percent copper and 0.3g/t gold, making this deposit the largest undeveloped copper-gold deposit in the Southeast Asian region.

Robbins said Indophil expects its projects to bear fruit in the next three to 10 years.

"We are confidently optimistic about the prospects of mining in the Philippines, especially since the government has repeatedly expressed its support for the industry," said Robbins.

Indophil is one of several foreign mining companies that are actively pursuing mining projects in the Philippines, especially after the Supreme Court ruled that foreign participation does not violate the Philippine Constitution.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources has programmed 23 flagship mining projects that is expected to bring in fresh investments of about $6 billion, $7 billion in foreign exchange, P5 billion in excise taxes alone and about 210,000 in direct and indirect employment in the next six years.

The Philippines is considered a highly mineralized area with mineral resources estimated to cover nine million hectares or about 30 percent of the country’s total land area. Currently however, less than half a million hectares are being explored or developed.

The DENR noted that the country’s mineral wealth mostly consisting of gold, copper, nickel and chromite is estimated at $800 billion to $1 trillion.