MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines stands to earn $40 billion over a 25-year period from the Tampakan project of Sagitarrius Mines, Inc. (SMI), Mark Williams, general manager of the project, said yesterday.
In a presentation yesterday at the Mining Philippines 2010 Conference and Exhibit at the Manila Hotel, Williams said the operation of the Tampakan project has the potential of contributing up to one percentage point to the country’s gross domestic product annually over a 25-year period.
The figures cited by Williams form part of an economic impact assessment report made by the Australia-based research agency Centre for International Economics (CIE) for SMI.
CIE projects that the Tampakan project would contribute an average of $2.7 billion each year to the GDP during construction and operations through its capital investments, purchases of goods and services, and payment of taxes and duties, Williams said.
Taxes and duties at all levels, would amount to $5.8 billion over the life of the project, he added.
According to Williams, the project can generate up to 10,000 jobs in the construction phase and up to 2,000 permanent jobs once it starts operation.
Aside from this, the Tampakan project would invest more than $800 million on domestic goods and services during the three-year construction period, he said.
Williams pointed out that during the initial operational phase, a further $890 million would be invested, half of which would go to local wages.
Williams expressed continued optimism that the controversy over the South Cotabato provincial board’s ban on open pit mining will have a “timely resolution.”
Williams said SMI maintains its target of starting operations by 2016.