Australia's Mining Group acquires copper-gold proj in Phl

MANILA, Philippines - The Australia-listed Mining Group is acquiring an 80 percent interest in the Comval copper and gold project in the Philippines.

In a disclosure last week, Mining Group announced that it has entered into a binding heads of agreement with Toronto-listed Cadan Resources Corp. to acquire an 80 percent interest in the Comval copper-gold project in the Philippines.

The Comval project is located in the established copper and gold producing region of the Compostela Valley in Mindanao, with potential for large-scale copper gold porphyry mineralization.

The Comval project has a proven copper-gold mineralization identified from historical mining, over 24,000 meters of drilling and extensive exploration adits, trenches and surface sampling.

In addition, Mining Group will be granted an option to acquire an 80 percent interest in the Batoto gold/silver project, with a nine-month exercise period from settlement of the Comval project acquisition.

The transaction is subject to shareholder approval and will be funded through a combination of up to $4 million in cash payments and the issue of up to 5.2 million shares (of which 2.6 million will be conditional upon Mining Group’s share price being maintained above $1 per share).

Andrew Maurice, managing director of Mining Group, said the proposed acquisition represents an exciting phase in the company’s growth and is consistent with Mining Group’s objective of acquiring commercially significant mineral properties that can readily be brought into production.

“The Comval project in the Philippines is located in an established copper and gold producing region. Having evaluated a number of opportunities in Australia and offshore, this represents Mining Group’s first offshore project and builds on the company’s existing gold and base metal tenements in Western Australia.

“The Comval project’s tenement area covers 4,310 hectares, and has had over 24,000 meters of drilling completed, which we intend to review and reinterpret with the aim of defining a JORC resource,”

Maurice added that “the Philippines provides a stable investment environment, and given its scale and location, with a number of major copper and gold deposits in the same geological belt, the Comval project has the potential to transform Mining Group.”