Carrascal, Blackstone to spend P145M on Diwalwal

Companies that won the right to explore two portions of the Mt. Diwalwal gold-rush area in Southern Mindanao are looking at investing as much as P145 million over the next two years. Carrascal Nickel Corp. and Blackstone Mineral Resources, Inc. would spend P138 million and P6.85 million, respectively, based on pre-qualifying documents they had submitted, Jaime T. De Veyra, vice-president of state-owned Philippine Mining Development Corp. (PMDC), said in an interview. Carrascal Nickel plans to explore the 1,359-hectare Higanteng Bato in the next two years, while Blackstone is looking at finishing the exploration of the 1,296-hectare Letter V parcel within a year. Carrascal Nickel won the mine for a commitment fee of P25.5 million, higher than the P25.2 million that rival China NonFerrous Metals Mining (Phil.) Group Co. — the local unit of state-owned China Nonferrous Metal Mining (Group) Co. Ltd. — offered for Higanteng Bato. Blackstone, the sole bidder for the Letter V parcel, offered P20 million. "We have set a minimum capital expenditure of P500 million for a 25-year operation for each of the mines. More than half of the amount will be used for the gold processing plant that will be set up," De Veyra said. De Veyra said the companies need not apply for a mineral production sharing agreement for the mining tenements, and will just have to get an environment compliance certificate from the Environment department. Under the contract the companies signed with the state-owned firm, the government will retain a 5-percent royalty share in the gross profit once they start extracting minerals. "The companies are also expected to start within 60 days upon the receipt of the notice of award, which hopefully will [be released today]," De Veyra said. The 8,100-hectare Mt. Diwalwal mineral reservation is divided into five portions. In July last year, the PMDC awarded the right to explore and develop the first parcel — the 1,620-hectare Upper Ulip-Paraiso area — to Paraiso Consolidated Mining Corp. for a commitment fee of $500,000. The second parcel is the 1,359-hectare Higanteng Bato parcel, while the third parcel — the 1,296-hectare Letter V parcel — was bid out two weeks ago. The PMDC is accepting letters of interest for a joint operating deal for the exploration, development and operations of another 729-hectare parcel. Plans for the fifth portion are still pending. The area will cover 950 hectares, to be reserved for mining operations of indigenous groups. — Kristine Jane R. Liu, BusinessWorld