Philex eyes aggressive exploration in Bayugo project

Philex Mining Corp. is set to be more aggressive in its exploration activities in its Bayugo prospect in Tubod, Surigao del Norte following an initial estimate of a world-class mining project in the area. Philex told the Philippine Stock Exchange that it is ramping up its exploration activities in its Bayugo prospect as it showed a mineral resource of 85.7 million dry metric tons (dmt) of indicated resource and 32.7 million dmt of inferred resource. Jose Ernesto Villaluna Jr., Philex president, said the Bayugo mineral deposit is a porphyry-hosted copper gold occurrence in an island-arc setting, located within areas covered by MPSA 149 and EP 13 and about a kilometer northwest of the Boyongan copper gold deposit. Boyongan and Bayugo are within the Silangan property in which Philex has a 50 percent interest (purchased earlier from Anglo American) and the other 50 percent is held by 81 percent-owned Canadian unit Philex Gold Inc. Philex said external consultants of Philex Gold and in-house geologists of the company have estimated a cut-off grade of 0.4 percent copper based on drilling and assay results from 43 exploration holes available on September 30, 2009. The Bayugo deposit is now comparable to the Boyongan deposit, which was previously announced at 104 million dmt of Measured and 19.8 million dmt of Inferred resource. Meanwhile, Philex and Philex Gold have deployed eleven drill rigs in the Bayugo area to hasten the step-out and in-fill drilling to elevate the status of inferred resources to the Indicated category which is necessary for the completion of the pre-feasibility study. The current drilling at Bayugo deposit has defined an outer limit copper-gold zone which measures about 1,000 meters by 300 meters in area with thickness of 400 meters. The resource estimates use the definitions and guidelines of the Philippine Minerals Reporting Code (PMRC) and the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) standards and definitions. Philex also announced that Noel Oliveros, a geologist and a Competent Person (CP) accredited by the Geological Society of the Philippines, is responsible for the technical report. – GMANews.TV