Monte Oro boosts Apex stake

MANILA, Philippines - Monte Oro Resources & Energy Inc. will acquire an additional seven-percent stake in listed Apex Mining Co. Inc., raising its total shareholdings to 12 percent.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange yesterday, Apex said its board approved the issuance of 120 million Class A common shares to Monte Oro for $12 million.

Monte Oro currently holds five percent of Apex.

Monte Oro chairman Enrique Razon has earlier expressed his intention to increase their group’s stake in Apex if given the opportunity. In November 2011, Monte Oro acquired 73.34 Class A shares of Apex for $6 million. 

The additional investment reflected the Razon-led group’s confidence in Apex’s management team and commitment to develop its mineral resources under its mining tenements.

Incorporated in 1970, Apex holds a mineral production sharing agreement (MPSA) for a copper-gold deposit in Maco, Compostela Valley, where the company mines an average of 700 tons of ore a day.     

Monte Oro, on the other hand, was formed in 2005 to engage in the business of mining and oil and gas exploration in the country. Its principals have a proven track record in port management, power transmission, oil and gas exploration, gaming and property development.

Apex is expanding its existing ore processing facility by three-fold as part of a business plan aimed at upgrading resources, developing new vein systems and achieve a gold production rate of 100,000 ounces per year by 2015.

The company posted a net profit of P50 million in the first quarter this year, a reversal of the P50-million losses incurred in the same period a year ago.