Benguet Corp eyes $30-M financing for Balatoc gold tailings

MANILA, Philippines - Benguet Corp. is working to close by the end of this year the financing deal for its $30 million Balatoc gold tailings project in Benguet province, a ranking company official said.

Benguet Corp, chief finance officer Renato Claravall said the company is in talks with a local financing institution. He declined to identify the firm pending the conclusion of the transaction.

 “We are just looking for the right hedge. Because we have to hedge the gold price,” said Claravall in a recent interview.  

Benguet Corp., through its subsidiary Balatoc Gold Resources Corp., targets to finish before 2017 a gold recovery facility that would salvage gold from 16.7 million tons of tailings impounded in three tailings ponds in its Acupan gold mine in Benguet. Some .65 grams of gold can be recovered per ton of tailings.

Around 85 percent of the total volume of deposited tailings would be processed for gold recovery.

 “If we can have financing within the year, we can have the first pouring by January 2017,” said Claravall.  

He said a mineral processing permit has been given for the gold recovery project which would comprise a main processing plant having, a flotation facility, a fine grinding area, a CIP tank, and a gold storage facility. It would cost the company $22.8 million for the actual cost of equipment.

Claravall said it would take at least two years to build the plant with the first pouring of tailings expected to take place in 2017.

Tailings deposited in the Acupan mine are expected to be exhausted within 10 years of operations of the gold recovery facility but plans are in place to ramp up production in the Acupan mine, therefore sustaining the supply of tailings to the gold recovery facility.

 “We will continue to develop our Acupan mine which would create more tailings,” he said.  

Within the 10-year operation of the gold recovery facility, some 180,000 ounces of gold are expected to be produced. 

Assuming that the price of $1, 300 per ounce of gold remains constant for the 10-year duration, the company expects to reap in revenues of $235 million dollars from the recovered gold.

Claravall said the company is now studying how to increase production in the Acupan mine.

 “We are now studying how to increase capacity. We have to conduct detailing for the expansion. We will be needing a major drilling program for that,” he said.