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News Top Stories OceanaGold's Philippines mine reopens
News Top Stories OceanaGold's Philippines mine reopens
| OceanaGold's Philippines mine reopens |
| Friday, 16 May 2008 13:38 | ||||||
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The stop work was issued by the governor of Luzon province where the mine is located over an alleged non payment of quarrying fees to local authorities by the miner. Local officials barricaded the Didipio mine, about 270km north-east of the capital Manila, this week in an attempt to stop construction work. However, the Philippine Department of Environment and Natural Resources secretary Jose Atienza told OceanaGold to continue activities, the company said. Mr Atienza reportedly instructed the Melbourne headquartered gold miner to disregard the governor's order, which was issued after OceanaGold refused to pay 30 million pesos ($A743,706) for a quarrying permit. "There is a disagreement between the local governor and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources with regards to what the governor was claiming as quarrying taxes," Vancouver-based investor relations manager for OceanaGold Darren Klinck told AAP. "The department has made it clear to the governor and also other interested parties that OceanaGold does not require, by way of the Mining Act, quarrying taxes, and thus the company is adhering to the Act." Mr Klinck said the Philippines government, which was OceanaGold's partner in the project, reassured him overnight that quarrying taxes were not applicable in this instance. "We're back up and running as usual and the only thing that was affected (by the barricade) was the bulk earth works, and we still had drills turning ... and had other equipment that was mobilising to site." It's not the first time OceanaGold has courted controversy developing the mine. In March a villager was wounded by a gun shot fired by a security contractor employed by OceanaGold during a scuffle that broke out while the company was demolishing houses to make way for the mine. The company had government approval to compulsorily acquire the land. Mr Klinck said the company had the support of the "large majority of the local community" despite some activist non-government organisations claiming the contrary. "It's important to recognise that the project employs approximately 900 people of which greater than 98 per cent are Filipino and somewhere between roughly a third and a half are from the local provinces that surround the project. "So it's a very significant investment in that part of the Philippines and is a mine that will have a life of at least 15 years. "It's a very robust project and will have numerous indirect impacts in addition to the direct impacts ... in terms of local economies." The this week the company more than doubled the estimated costs of the mine, from the feasibility study figure of $US155 million ($A164.17 million), to $US320 million ($A339.12 million). Austock Securities maintained its `buy' recommendation on OceanaGold but warned that the Didipio project's risk level remains high. "The cap ex (capital expenditure) of the project has increased significantly, but not unlike just about every other project in other parts of the world," Mr Klinck said. He said the mine was based one of the highest grade copper-gold systems in the world. The dual Australian and Toronto listed company recently appointed a new vice-president of exploration, Nick Franey, previously of Democratic Republic of The Congo-focused Anvil Mining Ltd, which has also courted controversy. OceanaGold's Australian shares closed 8.5 cents, or 5.5 per cent, higher at $1.63 on Friday.
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