Tampakan resource estimates upgraded

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Posted on January 27, 2012 08:32:33 PM

KORONADAL — The Tampakan copper-gold project — threatened by a South Cotabato provincial government ban on open pit mining — covers significantly higher mineral resources than initially estimated, Australia’s Indophil Resources NL announced on Friday.

Indophil, which with Xstrata Copper controls Tampakan developer Sagittarius Mines, Inc. (SMI), told the Australian bourse that the site likely contained 15 million tons (Mt) of copper and 16.2 million ounces (Moz) of gold, up from the 13.9 Mt and 19.9 Moz, respectively, set in an October 2009 estimate.

The revisions, prepared by Xstrata, raised the tonnage estimate by 18%, Indophil said, further cementing the assessment of Tampakan being one of the world’s largest undeveloped copper-gold deposits.

“Even though the Tampakan deposit has already been acknowledged as world-class, the new information confirms its ranking as one of the most significant undeveloped copper-gold deposits in the world,” Indophil CEO Richard Laufman was quoted as saying in the disclosure.

“The enhanced level of confidence provided in this upgraded resource estimate for Tampakan is encouraging. It is timely, and serves to restate the significance of this deposit to minerals development in the Philippines as the project partners work towards securing the range of approvals required to bring this important development to production,” he added.

The Environment department earlier this month returned SMI’s application for an environmental compliance certificate (ECC), claiming it could not act while the open pit mining ban issue remained unresolved.

The matter has been raised as an example of inconsistent Philippine policies as national law does not specifically ban the practice. SMI has warned that the ban, since copied by other local governments, would turn off investors — a position also adopted by foreign chambers and the mining industry.

The Tampakan project, potentially the single largest foreign direct investment in the country with an estimated capital requirement of $5.9 billion, is being opposed by the local Catholic Church and other groups over concerns that it would harm the environment, human health and food security.

The project — scheduled to start commercial operations in 2016 — also faces security threats from the communist New People’s Army, which have mounted several attacks in the last four years.