Philex ships P2b worth of metals, completes Silangan project study

Philex Mining Corp., one of the country's largest miners, shipped P2.425-billion worth of precious metals in July, the company told the Philippine Stock Exchange on Monday. In a statement to the PSE, Philex said the two shipments were made to Pan Pacific Copper Co. Ltd., containing 20,659 ounces of gold, 5.6 million pounds of copper and 19,665 ounces of silver. Meanwhile, production for July amounted to P1.396 billion. Of this P787 million is from gold, P591 million from copper and P18 million from silver. In a separate statement, Philex also disclosed that it has completed the Mineral Resource estimate for the mining project of Silangan Mindanao Mining Co., a 100-percent owned subsidiary of Philex. The Boyongan-Bayugo copper-gold porphyry deposit is located in the surigao Mineral District at the north-eastern tip of Mindanao Island in the Philippines. "The combined Boyongan-Bayugo Measured and Indicated Resource contain an estimated metal content of 4.9-billion pounds of copper and 9 million ounces of gold. These numbers are very close to the estimates of our external consultants and boost our confidence in the resource estimate," said Manuel V. Pangilinan, Philex chairman. Philex has recently entered into a joint venture with Manila Mining Corp., another listed miner, for the exploration to determine the extent of the Bayugo deposit into the adjacent tenement of Manila Mining. Pangilinan added that the joint venture for combined Bayugo-Kalayaan resource is expected to be enhanced. -- CMA/OMG, GMA News