A Major J/V would be nice in the PhilippinesTop mining firms eye slice of Philippine action
By Christine A. Gaylican
Inquirer
Last updated 11:24am (Mla time) 01/26/2007
FIVE of the world’s largest mining companies are in the Philippines, hoping to get a slice of the local mining action, government and industry officials said Thursday.
Phelps Dodge, Anglo-American Holdings PLC, US-based BHP-Billiton, Swiss mining firm Xstrata Copper Ltd., and Canadian smelter Chemical Vapor Metal Refinery Co. (CVMR) are in negotiations on possible joint venture projects, Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Angelo Reyes said.
“The major players are now here ... [to usher in] the anticipated boom of the Philippine mining industry,” Reyes said.
Chamber of Mines of the Philippines president Benjamin Philip Romualdez said this development was due to the “clearer ... unchanging policy support of the government.”
Romualdez pointed out that in the last quarter, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) carried out drastic changes to streamline the bureaucracy and improve services to the vital sector.
“This has prompted us to push through with the Asia-Pacific Mining Conference in May ... the very same conference we postponed last year,” he said.
Last week, the DENR approved an exploration permit for Manila Mining Corp., Reyes said.
Anglo-American, through its local subsidiary Anglo-American Philippines Exploration Inc., is finalizing the joint venture agreement with Manila Mining on exploration of the Bayugo Copper Gold Project in Anislagan, Placer, in the southern province of Surigao del Norte.
Anglo-American, based in London and with mining operations in different parts of the world, has committed to spend an initial $10 million for the Surigao exploration work over the next two years