MGB puts on hold King King mining permit until Nadecor shareholders resolve dispute

The mining permit of King King copper-gold project in Compostella Valley is on hold until the people behind tenement owner Nationwide Development Corporation (Nadecor) are able to resolve their differences that have blown into an intra-corporate dispute, the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) said Wednesday.

 

The MGB in Region XI stopped evaluating the Declaration of Mining Project Feasibility (DMPF) for King-King until the legal tussle between two groups fighting for control of the company resolve their problems, said MGB Director Leo Jasareno. 

 

As the last step in securing government approval for a mining company to start operations, a DMPF cites the commercial viability of mineral deposits within a particular tenement.

 

"Technically, (the King King) project is one of the most attractive  mining projects, because it has a world-class deposit and a large investment... but then, it is mired in intra-corporate dispute," said Jasareno, noting Ricafort and Calalang have been informed of the suspension of the processing of the permit. 

 

King King is estimated to cough up 3.1 billion pounds of copper and 5.43 million ounces of gold in its 22-year mine life.

 

Conrado T. Calalang, Nadecor president, told reporters on Wednesday the intra-corporate dispute would be resolved in the favor of his group. 

 

“We are confident the issue will be resolved soon since we already obtained a very favorable resolution from the Court of Appeals,” he said.

 

“The Court of Appeals decision, dated Feb. 18, 2013, is legally binding and immediately effective, and removes any doubt as to who is authorized to represent Nadecor as its board of directors. The CA decision is now on appeal at Supreme Court," Calalang noted. 

 

"Please note that the Ricafort group is just minority shareholders, while our group holds the majority with 67 percent of the shareholdings...” he added. 

 

Nadecor took US-based miner St. Augustine Gold & Copper Ltd. as partner-contractor in the mine development.

 

"The DMPF of Nadecor is still pending with the MGB regional office but we have suspended the processing until the intra-corporate dispute is resolved," said MGB Director Leo Jasareno. 

 

"If we approved the DMPF, they can begin mining but then, who will mine the deposits? So they should first resolve the dispute," he added.  

 

Nadecor shareholders, headed by Jose Ricafort, is challenging the legitimacy of the Calalang-led board. 

 

In a February 18 decision, the appellate court recognized the legality board made up of chairman Roberto R. Romulo, president Calalang, COO and general counsel Leocadio Nitorreda, and directors Alfredo I. Ayala, Juan Kevin G. Belmonte, John Engle and Peter Mutuc. 

 

St. Augustine is represented  on the board by Tom Henderson and Kee Ming Chi.

 

The Ricafort group were Jose de Jesus as president and director,  Antonio Henson as treasurer and director, Deogracias Contreras Jr. as corporate secretary and director, with Ethelwoldo Fernandez, Victor Lazatin, Ruy Moreno, Angel Ong, and Teodorico Taguinod as directors, and Lemuel Santos as assistant corporate secretary. – VS, GMA News