Business

OceanaGold sees no reason for withdrawal of Dipidio exploration permit

August 24, 2016 | 2:13pm

MANILA, Philippines -- The local unit of Australian-owned OceanaGold Corp. remained firm that the government has no reason to withdraw its exploration permit at the Didipio mine despite alleged complaints from Nueva Vizcaya residents.

"There should be no reason why that [exploration permit] should be withdrawn. We have not been officially advised by the Office of the Secretary," OceanaGold Philippines chairman Joey Leviste said on the sidelines of the second day of the Mining Philippines Conference 2016.

The permit issued by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau in March this year authorized the company to conduct exploration activities in the broader region surrounding Didipio in the next five years.

"It was just granted to us. We have not yet started with the exploration although we’ve been waiting to start for a long time," he added.

Environment Undersecretary Leo Jasareno, head of the mining audit team, earlier said the local government unit wanted to use the land for agro-forestry rather than exploration as the exploration area is a rich agricultural area and is the citrus capital of Nueva Vizcaya.

"There are some agricultural activities in some places but we don’t go through those areas. We focus on highly-mineralized areas, which, by nature, are not agricultural," Leviste said.

Jasareno added that there was a formal request to junk the request for the renewal of the company’s exploration permit for five years.

"Anti-mining NGOs have been talking about our exploration permit. But we don’t want to dignify announcements from them by reacting to it," Leviste said.

He emphasized that the local and provincial governments are in support of OceanaGold, contrary to earlier pronouncements of Nueva Vizcaya Gov. Carlos Padilla asserting that mining is not allowed in the province and vowed to implement the environmental code.

"The provincial government have given us endorsements. We constantly engage with Governor Padilla," he said.

Audit on OceanaGold done

The DENR has finished the audit of OceanaGold and the company is looking forward for a positive response from the agency, noting that it was able to secure international standards certification even before MGB required it.

"The final exit was done in the provincial capitol and I have not heard from our country director on anything which means that’s a good thing, because if there’s something wrong, he would have called me immediately," he added.

Amid the ongoing clampdown on irresponsible mining firms, OceanaGold remains optimistic on the government as it only calls for responsible mining in the country.

"The president is just asking to follow the law, protect the environment and be responsible. And we have no problem with that because that is exactly our mantra," Leviste said.

The Philippine unit of OceanaGold Corp. operates the Didipio mine in Nueva Vizcaya, a high-grade gold-copper mine located approximately 270 kilometers north of Manila.

It is one of the lowest-cost gold mines globally, with nominal production of 100,000 ounces of gold and 14,000 tons of copper.

The company’s mining claims cover about 15,000 hectares and around 900 hectares of that have been explored.

OceanaGold acquired the Didipio project in the Philippines through its 2006 merger with Climax Mining.

Meanwhile, the company posted strong operational and financial results for the first semester of the year on the back of improved gold prices that offset high production cost.

OceanaGold earned $63.2 million in net income and revenue of $330.8 million for the January-June period.