KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews/25 May) – The Mines and Geosciences Bureau has yet to approve the “Declaration of Mining Project Feasibility” to a foreign-backed gold mining project in T’boli, South Cotabato, an official said on Friday.
Constancio A. Paye Jr., MGB regional director, said the main office is still evaluating the project feasibility study of Tribal Mining Corp.
“I endorsed it [T’boli project] last year to our central office for approval. So far, it is still under review,” he said.
Paye said that Tribal Mining filed with the regional office late last year its DMPF.
Early this year, Eumir Ernesto P.
Tiamzon, Tribal Mining president, said they have asked the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of South Cotabato to endorse the mining project.
“We have presented the project last year. We want to go on the production phase,” he told MindaNews then.
Canadian firm Cadan Resources, Inc. is a major investor to the T’boli gold-silver project. Tribal Mining was granted the Mineral Production Sharing Agreement 090-97-XI covering 84.20 hectares in 1997.
The area straddles the “minahang bayan” or small-scale mining area, covering 21 hectares, that was declared over a decade ago by the provincial government.
An endorsement from the provincial government is one of the requirements before the project can go on commercial stream, said Paye, adding the T’boli project has already secured endorsement from the barangay and municipal governments.
Board member Ernesto I. Catedral, chairman of the SP environmental protection committee, earlier said that Tribal Mining requested for an endorsement because it has “finished its exploration activities.”
Robert Butchart, Cadan Resources president and chief executive officer, said in a statement before that they are working towards the granting of permits that will allow the commencement of gold production.
Cadan Resources has completed the sale of 80 percent of its interest in the Comval copper-gold project in Compostela Valley to Australian firm Mining Group Limited.
“The transaction represents an important step in the implementation of a new strategy by Cadan, namely to focus on the more advanced and high-grade T’Boli gold and silver project,” Butchart said.
Cadan intends to invest in targeted drilling with the objective of expanding on the present indicated and inferred resources at T’boli, he noted.
An earlier company study showed that the T’boli project has deposits of 2.4 million tons, containing 420,000 ounces of gold and 1.
6 million ounces of silver. (Bong S. Sarmiento / MindaNews)
