St. Augustine Gold and Copper Ltd., a US based mining company, in partnership with the Nationwide Development Corporation (Nadecor) have created a gold mining project called the “King-king copper-gold mine project”. The project is to take place in the quiet town of Pantukan, Compostella Valley, Philippines.
The proposed open-pit mine is expected to last for 22 years and is said to produce copper/gold/silver concentrate, copper cathode, and also gold doré bullion. Approximately, the mine will annually produce:
· 138 million pounds of copper
· 236,169 ounces of gold
· 506,504 ounces of silver
The results of the preliminary feasibility (PFS) study on this joint venture project shows that it has favorable economic potential. The project is expected to generate and estimated pre-tax net present value of $2.0 billion. This project also has an estimated pre-tax internal rate of return of 24.8%.
Construction and development of the mine is expected to start after NADECOR Philippines has complied with certain conditions. The project can be expected to start its operations soon.
St. Augustine Gold and Copper Ltd., said that they plan to hire small-scale miners to operate inside the project. “We will try to absorb them in our workforce. We will need 1,700 workers for our operations, so we will hire them and relocate them to a safer place,” said St. Augustine country manager and director for environmental permitting, Clyde Gillespie.
According to Gillespie, they already have an agreement with TESDA (Technical Education and Skills Development Authority) Philippines and the workers will be trained how to run the project’s processes.
This project will certainly have a great impact on the Philippine Economy. If the project’s rate of return is as expected, we can expect positive results. This project has also opened many job opportunities for a lot of people in Pantukan.
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