Philex, Geograce, F.F. Cruz eyeing Mt. Diwalwal mine site

NINE MINING companies have expressed interest to partner with the government for the exploration and development of a portion of the gold-rush Mt. Diwalwal area in Southern Mindanao.

Documents from the state-owned Philippine Mining Development Corp. （PMDC） showed that these companies are: Paraiso Consolidated Mining Corp., construction firm F.F. Cruz & Co., Inc., Hong Kong-backed Philex Mining Corp., Blackstone Mineral Resources, Inc., Udema Holdings, China NonFerrous Metals Mining （Phil.） Group Co., Geograce Resources Philippines, Inc., Balatoc Gold Resources Corp., and Mt. Sinai Mining Exploration and Development Corp.

“I expect more firms to express interest for the 729-hectare area [because this is at the center of the gold-rush area in the Diwalwal Mineral Reservation,” Jaime T. de Veyra, vice-president of PMDC, told reporters.

He pointed out that 22 holes drilled by the PMDC in the 729-hectare mine indicated a gold ore resource of almost one million ounces.

Bidding of the 729-hectare area will be limited to Filipino corporations, he said, explaining that “the people in the area only want Filipinos.”

The minimum bid price for the mine was pegged at P300 million, with the government retaining a 5% royalty share in the gross profit of the winner, once the firm starts extracting minerals.

Interested companies had until yesterday to secure the eligibility requirement form. A pre-bidding conference will follow after a month.

The bidding for the 729-hectare area, the fourth parcel at Mt. Diwalwal, will be held on May 14.

Paraiso Consolidated Mining is a consortium of four local miners awarded the right to explore the 1,620-hectare Upper Ulip-Paraiso area, the first portion of the 8,100-hectare Mt. Diwalwal Mineral Reservation.

Blackstone Mineral Resources won the bidding for the 1,296-hectare Letter V parcel.

The third portion, or the 1,359-hectare Higanteng Bato mine, was won by Carrascal Nickel Corp.

China NonFerrous meanwhile is the local unit of state-owned China Nonferrous Metal Mining （Group） Co. Ltd., while Balatoc Gold is a wholly owned subsidiary of Romualdez-led Benguet Corp.

Philex Mining is the country’s largest mining company whose tenements are located in Benguet and Tubod, Surigao del Norte.

Geograce Resources Philippines owns the Ayungon mining claim in Ayungon, Negros Oriental and the Isabela mining claim in Dinapigue, Isabela.

Philex Mining and Geograce Resources Philippines are both listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange.

Mt. Sinai Mining meanwhile won the right to explore and develop the Pantukan Alluvial Gold Property in Compostela Valley, which PMDC bid out last year.

Mr. de Veyra had said Carrascal Nickel and Blackstone Mineral Resources would spend P138 million and P6.85 million, respectively, on their Mt. Diwalwal parcels, based on pre-qualifying documents they had submitted.

Carrascal Nickel plans to explore Higanteng Bato in the next two years, while Blackstone is looking at finishing the exploration of the Letter V parcel within a year.