Tampakan investor mulls listing at PSE

MANILA, Philippines - Indophil Resources NL, one of the foreign backers of the Tampakan copper-gold project in Mindanao, is set to have a meeting in May to consider if it would pursue a planned listing on the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE).

In a notice posted on its Website late last week, Indophil said it will be having a general meeting on May 2, which among others, will “consider and if thought fit, to pass the following as an ordinary resolution: that for the purpose of the Listing Rules of the Philippine Stock Exchange and for all other purposes, shareholders approve the listing of all of the fully paid ordinary shares in the capital of the Company on the PSE.”

Indophil which is publicly listed in Australia announced in December last year that it was looking to list on the PSE this year as part of its long term commitment to the country and to the Tampakan project.

The announcement of the plan to list on the PSE was made after Indophil had entered into a placement agreement with Alsons Power Holdings Corp., a firm controlled by Alsons Consolidated Resources Inc. to raise A$97.7 million (Australian dollars).

The placement comprised of two tranches, with the first tranche involving the sale of 66.67 million shares to Alsons Prime Investments Corp., a subsidiary of Alsons Power Holdings, in December for A$30 million.

The second tranche which involved the sale of 141.042 million shares to Alsons Prime Investments to raise A$67.7 million, was completed in February.

The placement brought the Alsons Group’s stake to 19.99 percent of Indophil’s 1.203 billion shares.

Prior to the transaction, the Alsons Group held three percent of Indophil’s 995.438 million shares.

Indophil said the proceeds from the transaction with Alsons Group would be used to support the Tampakan project.

The Tampakan project which has an estimated capital requirement of $5.9 billion is scheduled to start commercial operations in 2016.

The project spans the provinces of South Cotabato, Sarangani, Sultan Kudarat and Davao del Sur.

A ban on open-pit mining in South Cotabato has threatened the project with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) denying to give an environmental compliance certificate (ECC) for it in January.

The ECC certifies that a project will not lead to unacceptable impacts to the environment. It is one of the requirements to secure a permit to operate the mine.

The DENR had said earlier the ban will have to be resolved first before the ECC could be given for the project.

Sagittarius Mines, Inc. (SMI), the firm managing the Tampakan project, filed an appeal of the government’s decision to deny the ECC on January 27, citing that the decision was not based on the merits of an environmental impact assessment it submitted for the project.

SMI General Manager Mark Williams said last week that while they are hopeful the government would grant the ECC for the project, the firm is considering filing an appeal to the Office of the President in the event the environmental permit will not be given.

Indophil owns 37.5 percent of Tampakan project, while the remaining 62.5 percent is held by Xstrata Copper.