Sagittarius Mines plans own power plant

MANILA, Philippines - Sagittarius Mines Inc. (SMI) is planning to put up its own coal-fired power plant with targeted capacity of 250 megawatt (MW) within the Tampakan Copper-Gold project.

The SMI power plant project is contained in the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) Transmission Development Plant (TDP) for the next 10 years.

“The proposed Tampakan Copper-Gold Project (Tampakan Project) intends to construct its own power station to meet its mine power requirements of more than 250MW,” the TDP said.

Based on the plan, apart from meeting the mine’s power demand, excess power will be exported to the Mindanao grid.

The power station, according to the TDP, is expected to be operational in 2014.

The connection of the mine and the power plant will be via a new 230/138 kV substation, to be located in Rizal town and will bus-in along NGCP’s Matanao-Gen. Santos (Klinan) 138 kV transmission line.

The Tampakan Copper-Gold Project, located in the southern Philippines, is among the most attractive undeveloped long life, large-scale and low-cost copper deposits in the world.

The project is estimated to require $5.9 billion capital investment, with first production expected in 2016. 

The Tampakan deposit contains a 2.4 billion ton mineral resource with an estimated 13.9 million tons of copper and 16.2 million ounces of gold.

Tampakan is projected to produce 375,000 tons of copper and 360,000 ounces of gold per year in the initial mine-life of 17 years, with considerable and realistic potential for mine-life extension.

To date, more than A$300 million has been spent on exploration and development of Tampakan. Its direct contribution to the Philippine economy over the known mine-life is estimated at $37 billion with an estimated $8 billion being paid in Philippine taxes and royalties. 

Estimated direct employment during construction is 10,000 people, with a workforce of 2,000 during operational period.