Wednesday, October 15, 2008

A new minig industry will operate in Masbate

By January next year, an Australian-based miner will start recovering gold ores from its facility in Masbate, an island 350 kilometers south of Manila. Capital spending for the operation is initially seen to reach $200 million, CGA Mining Ltd. President and chief executive officer Michael J. Carrick said on Wednesday. All ores will be sold to the Philippine Gold Processing and Refining Corp. (PGPRC), Carrick added, citing an earlier commitment made by CGA’s local partner, Filminera Resources Corp. PGPRC also runs the central processing facility to be used for gold recovery. Besides being a major gold source, the facility is located in Barangay Puro, Aroroy, Masbate, the country’s oldest mining district. The company expects to extract some 3.3 million ounces of gold from the mine. “The initial phase will produce 200,000 ounces of gold per annum," Carrick said. He added that the company plans to expand its facility to process more gold ores from 4 million metric tons (MT) to 7.5 million MTs.

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