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MANILA - The country's biggest listed mining company on Thursday said the Aquino administration's new mining policy would cause delays in its Silangan copper-gold project.
Manuel V. Pangilinan, Philex Mining Corp. chairman, said Executive Order No. 79 will delay the company's mine in Bayugo, which is part of the Silangan project in Surigao, since the project only has an exploration permit.
The adjacent property, Boyongan, already has a mineral production sharing agreement, so any mining activity in that area would still be allowed to continue.
"The Boyongan is the property with bigger reserves so we're looking at whether we could start Boyongan first. So it is a function of how quickly Congress can enact the relevant legislation on taxation," Pangilinan said.
"We're hoping that by the time we start working on the adjacent property in Bayugo relevant legislation is enacted," he said.
Philex had estimated that it might be able to mine Silangan for 40 to 50 years and that Boyongan-Bayugo may contain metal content of 9 billion pounds of copper and 5 million ounces of gold.
Philex's shipments for the first half of the year were valued at P6.46 billion, up from P5.89 billion in the same six-month period last year.
Earlier, Michael Toledo, Philex spokesperson, said EO 79 will not make a dent on the company's income projection in the short-term since the fees involved are not that substantial.
EO 79 imposes a moratorium on new mining permits until a law on the revenue-sharing scheme between companies and the government is enacted.
The Aquino administration is seeking to hike the royalties on mining to a range of 5-7 percent and the excise tax from the current 2 percent. President Benigno Aquino III is asking Congress to pass this revenue-sharing scheme that would cover the new and existing 300 mine operations in the country.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources said the grant of mining rights and tenements will be done through competitive public bidding, as opposed to the “first come, first serve policy” in the past.
According to EO 79, the state owns all valuable metals in abandoned ores and mine wastes or tailings generated by previous or defunct projects. These will be developed and utilized through competitive public bidding,
The new order also limits all small-scale mining operations to within Minahang Bayan areas.
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