Philex acquires full control over Boyongan gold-copper project

MANILA, Philippines - Philex Mining Corp., the Philippines’ largest miner, has acquired the entire stake of a property earlier deemed unfit to be mined by its project partners. The company bought the 50 percent stake held by both the Anglo American Exploration (Philippines) BV and Anglo American Exploration (Philippines) Inc. in a Boyongan copper-gold project, Philex said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE). The $55 million acquisition was undertaken through a share and asset purchase agreement covering Anglo American’s shares in joint venture companies, Silangan Mindanao Co. Inc. and Silangan Mindanao Exploration Co. Inc., the company said. Along with its subsidiary, Philex Gold Philippines Inc., Philex said it now has full control over the Boyongan project. In a disclosure in February last year, Philex said Anglo American has found mining operations in the Boyongan property unworkable. Anglo American’s feasibility study on the Boyongan copper-gold porphyry deposit within the Mineral Production Sharing Agreement 149-99XIII indicated that the property contains minerals without “reasonable prospects of eventual economic extraction," Philex said in an earlier report to the PSE. Philex said the Anglo American study showed that whatever resources the Boyongan property contains will be hard and impractical to extract. The company added that Anglo American’s study also revealed that a potential mine on the site will only have a short life span. However, Philex said it has adopted an opposing view from Anglo American’s conclusion. Philex is 20.06-percent owned by Hong Kong conglomerate First Pacific Co. Ltd. Philex shares rose 1.0989 percent to P4.60 during Friday’s trading at the PSE. - GMANews.TV