RP mining compay gets financing to resume stalled project
Posted on December 4th, 2009
The country’s oldest mining company, Benguet Corp., gets a new leash of life as it entered into a financing agreement with a Chinese company. The listed Benguet Corp. has signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with MinMetals International (HK) Ltd. which would allow them to resume the exploration activity at its King-king project in Pantukan, Compostela Valley.
Benguet, in its disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) said, “The agreement provides that MinMetals will provide the necessary funding through its banking facility to finance the full cost required to bring King-king project into full operation.”
The MOA shall include all advances necessary for halted project, starting from organization, pre-operating material, financial requirements and similar activities that may require project advances. Most especially with regard to all necessary confirmation/validation of project surveys, feasibility study, engineering, procurement and construction of all the needed facilities.
Benguet is the registered operator King-king project covering a 1,656-hectare property in the town of Pantukan, Compostela Valley. The property was said to have a reserve of about 353 million metric tons (MT) of ore at 0.385% copper grade and 0.439 grams of gold pet MT.
Unfortunately, the pre-feasibility studies were suspended in January due to the company’s dispute with its partner and tenement holder Nationwide Development Corp. (Nadecor), who was said to have “grown impatient on project delays.”
Nadecor filed a complaint last year with the government to remove Benguet as operator of the project allegedly due to delays. Benguet vice president for finance and corporate secretary Reynaldo P. Mendoza said they are still discussing with Nadecor and are still open for settlement, which they are pursuing at the moment.
MinMetals, on the other hand, is a subsidiary of China MinMetals Corp., a Global Fortune 500 company. It was founded in 1950 and is primarily engaged in metals and minerals, but is also involved in finance and real estate. It is also among the 44 “key enterprises” in China today.
