Philex mineral shipments up 59% in December

MANILA, Philippines - With metal prices rising, copper-gold producer Philex Mining Corp. shipped P910 million worth of minerals in December last year, up 59.1 percent from the same month in 2008.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Philex said the latest shipment brought to P9.51 billion the total estimated value of metals it delivered for the whole of 2009.

Philex said the value of its monthly shipments has been steadily rising since the start of the year. The December shipment is based on provisional metal prices consisting of P496 million from gold, P406 million from copper and P8 million from silver.

Philex shipped 4,992 dry metric tons of concentrates from its Padcal copper-gold mine containing 9,347 ounces of gold, 2.79 million pounds of copper, and 9,790 ounces of silver last month.

Philex said its Padcal mine’s projected operating life has been extended by another three years, from the previously declared 2014 to 2017, based on the proved reserves of the mine as of June 30, 2009.

The Padcal mine has reserves of 74 million tons, at assumed metal prices of $800 per ounce of gold and $2 per pound of copper and at copper equivalent cut-off of 0.36 percent.

Philex is also ramping up exploration activities in its Bayugo prospect in Tubod, Surigao del Norte after initial mineral resource estimate showed 85.7 million dry metric tons (DMT) of indicated resource and 32.7 million DMT of inferred resource.

The Bayugo deposit is now comparable to the Boyongan deposit, which was previously announced at 104 million DMT of measured and 19.8 million dmt of Inferred resource.

Philex president Jose Ernesto Villaluna said the Boyongan and Bayugo are within the Silangan property in which Philex has a 50-percent interest (purchased earlier from Anglo American) and the other 50 percent is held by 81 percent-owned Canadian unit Philex Gold Inc.

In another development TVI Resources Development (Phils.) Inc., the local mining subsidiary of Canadian miner TVI Pacific, Inc., reported the completion of its 10 shipment of copper concentrates on Dec. 29, 2009.

In a posting at its website, TVIRD said it sold 5,284 DMT of copper concentrates – worth $7.7 million. The volume is higher than the 4,742 DMT the company shipped early last month.

TVIRD’s shipments come from its Canatuan mine in Zamboanga del Norte.        – With Marianne Go