Michael Carrick, CEO of CGA Mining will present the company's 7.8M ounce Masbate Gold Project (100% interest). The Masbate mine is 350km to the south on Manila and produced 1.1M ounces between 1980 and 1994 when it was operated by Atlas. The property has been owned by a number of companies since then before CGA acquired it in March 2007. The company has increased the resource by >50% through further drilling and the total resource is now 280Mt at 0.87g/t. Construction commenced in 2008 and this US$170M project is now at the commissioning stage with the first gold pour imminent. The initial milling rate of 4Mtpa is expected to produce 200,000 ounces pa and studies are in hand to increase the mill capacity to between 6 and 7Mtpa and >250,000 ounces pa from year three of the project. Average production costs of US$460/oz are forecast and the current pit life is +10 years. Doing business in the Philippines has become much more attractive in recent years and the Masbate project will enjoy a six year tax holiday.
The second Philippines gold story presented by Lance Govey, the Technical Director of Red 5, is the Siana Project in northern Mindano where Red 5 is earning an 80% interest. Siana is not on the same scale as Masbate and the project is still pre-commitment, but recent work has seen the planned open pit and underground ore reserve figure double to 5.1Mt at 4.3g/t containing more than 700,000 ounces. The Mineral Resource is 6.7Mt at 5.2g/t and some 1.1M ounces with excellent potential for extensions along strike and down dip. The project is held under an MPSA (Mineral Sharing Production Agreement) application and the Company has initiated the procedures to have the permit granted. In the meantime exploration and assessment work continues under an Exploration Permit. Red 5 is making advances to the outstanding permitting, technical and legal elements required to secure the MPSA and enable the board to make a decision to construct the project, subject to project financing.
Rob Gregory, MD of Rusina Mining NL will present an overview of the mining situation in the Philippines, as well as a summary of his company’s activities with the main focus being the Acoje nickel project.
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