Phil Mining bares winning bidders for Paracale, Opol mining projects

MANILA, Philippines -  The bids and award committee of the Philippine Mining Development Corp. (PMDC) is recommending the award of the Paracale gold mining property to Black Stone Mineral Resources, Inc. and the Opol gold and Opol chromite property to Filipinas (Prefab Bldg.) Systems, Inc.

The awards were the results of a public bidding held last March 7 and 14.

The Paracale gold property is located in Paracale, Camarines Norte and covers 213 hectares.

The Opol gold property is located in Misamis Oriental and covers 84.58 hectares, while the Opol chromite property is located in Barrio Awang, Opol, Misamis Oriental and covers 27 hectares.

In its Resolution 2011-06, the PMDC-BAC stated that after evaluation, only Black Stone and Filsystems conformed with the eligibility requirements and were pre-qualified to participate in the bidding.

For the Paracale gold property, Black Stone offered a 7.2 percent royalty and a commitment fee of P1 million to PMDC while Filsystems offered a 5.11 percent royalty and a commitment fee of P2.11 million to P3.1 million.

For the Opol gold property, Black Stone submitted a bid of five percent for the royalty fee and a commitment fee of just P1 million, while Filsystems offered a royalty fee of only 3.88 percent but a commitment fee ranging from P1.8 million to 2.18 millin.

For the Opol chromite property, only Filsystems submitted an offer of a 5.1 percent royalty fee and a commitment fee ranging from P1.188 million to P1.288 million.

Black Stone is a subsidiary of Winner Power Holdings, Ltd., and is engaged in the exploration, development and production of coal, iron, nickel and other mineral resources.

It is also engaged in the trading and processing of different mineral resources and has investments in the energy sector.

Based on its website, it is also engaged in forest development and management.

Black Stone had made a successful bid for the Letter V gold property located within the Diwalwal Mineral Reservation in Monkayo, Compostella Valley.

It is also exploring for chromite, manganese and copper ore in its AEP-111-01-10 property located in Camiling and San Clemente, Tarlac.

Filsystems is primarily in the construction business.