philippines in focus

July/August 2011 | Volume 8 | Issue 4 | Industry Technical Information | 矿业技术信息

ASIA AT THE CORE 亚洲为核心

Philippines in focus • Nickel shines • German technology goes global 聚焦菲律宾 • 镍矿闪耀光芒 • 德国技术走向全球

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Philippines

THE final drillholes at Mindor o Resources’Bolobolo nickel target in the Surigao nickeldistrict of northeast Mindanao have returnedstrong assays of potential economic interest.The company is now utilizing the data obtai-ned from this drill program to estimate indi-cated resources.

A total of 497 holes for 5200 metr es havebeen completed from the proposed 7000-10,000 metre program systematically testingregional nickel targets with the objective ofconverting a significant proportion of the Su-rigao regional exploration targets to r esour-ces. Drilling has been completed on a 50 x50 metre grid pattern at Bolobolo and Min-doro says this is suf ficient drilling density toenable estimation of indicated resources.

Best results from the final 52 holes and 433samples are: 13.75 metres from surface @1.36% nickel, including 12 metres from 1.75metres in saprolite @ 1.42%; 12.1 metr esfrom surface @ 1.12%; 9.4 metres from sur-face @ 1.18%, including 5.8 metres from 3.6metres in saprolite @ 1.37%; and 9.95 metresfrom 1.3 metre @ 1.2%, including 4.7 metresfrom 11.25 metres in saprolite @ 1.46%.

The company is carrying out a final topo-graphic survey at Bolobolo before producinga resource estimate while drilling has now

moved to the Agata South ar ea. A previousarrangement with a Philippines company ,Delta Earthmoving, has been r e-negotiated,allowing Mindoro to resume control of theproject in exchange for a gross 1% royalty onfuture production.

Mindoro has NI 43-101 mineral r esourceestimates on its Agata Nickel-Cobalt Projectin Surigao, that include a measured and in-dicated resource of 32.6 million tonnes @1.04% nickel for 340,000 tonnes containednickel. It recently released an integrated pre-liminary economic assessment (PEA) onAgata and has started a pre-feasibility studyinto an integrated on site nickel pr ocessingproject based on the PEA. It is also asses-sing the potential to develop a thermally pro-cessed (upgraded) nickel or e operation togenerate early cashflow.

The company’s president and CEO JonDugdale told delegates at the China NickelConference that Mindoro sees very str onggrowth in Chinese and other (eg Indian) stain-less steel production. Up to 80% of nickelconsumption is in stainless steel production.“Primary nickel supply has not come onstream as forecast and the ‘gap’ in supply isbeing met, just, by nickel pig iron productionin China. Nickel pig iron is produced from di-

rect shipping or e (DSO) laterite sour cedmainly from the Philippines, Indonesia andNew Caledonia. However, there is a tr endaway from DSO in these countries in favourof value added processing.

“Mindoro is very well placed to take advan-tage of the continued strong demand for nik-kel products, with a focus on two stages ofvalue-added processing, a building nickel re-source and a high-quality deposit in terms ofsize potential, location and outstanding me-tallurgical characteristics.”

Second nickel plant on scheduleCONSTRUCTION by Nickel Asia Corp of thePhilippines’ second hydrometallurgical nickelprocessing plant, located adjacent to thecompany’s Taganito mining operations in Su-rigao del Norte, is pr oceeding on schedulewith plant commissioning expected in mid-2013. Nickel Asia has a 22.5% stake in thenew project, while Japan’s Sumitomo MetalMining has a 55% stake. The new plant willuse high pressure acid leach technology toprocess limonite or low grade nickel ore.

Taganito Mining Corp, a subsidiary of NickelAsia, will supply all of the required nickel oreto the plant over an estimated 30 year projectlife. The output, a mixed nickel cobalt sul-phide, will be bought by Sumitomo for finalprocessing at its refinery in Japan.

The new plant is considered particularly be-neficial to the country because of the valueadded created, the jobs and the for eign ex-change earnings. During construction, theproject will employ 4000 workers. When ope-rations start in 2013, ther e will be 1000 fulltime employees.

The country’s existing nickel pr ocessingplant is under Coral Bay Nickel Corporation,a joint venture between Sumitomo and RioTuba Nickel Mining Corporation, another Nik-kel Asia subsidiary.

Nickel Asia has a majority stake in six miningoperations throughout the Philippines, inclu-ding Taganito, Cagdianao, South Dinagat, Tag-anaan and Rio Tuba, and ships its output toJapan and China. The company has a 10%equity interest in the Coral Bay HPAL facility atRio Tuba. The oldest of the mine sites, RioTuba has been operating for mor e than 30years. The sixth mining project on Manicani Is-land is under care and maintenance.

8 | ASIA Miner | July/August 2011

STRONG NICKEL ASSAYS AT BOLOBOLO TARGET

Sampling nickel laterite from Mindoro Resources’ Agata Nickel-Cobalt Project.

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Philippines

Nickel Asia expects that a very healthy start to 2011 in terms of salesand net income will be sustained for the rest of the year owing to he-althy nickel prices and better production. President and chief execu-tive officer Gerard Brimo says all indications point to higher nickelprices and a higher sales volume as well as demand for nickel ore re-maining strong. “While the ferronickel plant of our main buyer of sa-prolite ore Pacific Metals Co (Pamco) was affected by the earthquakeand tsunami in Japan, the damage is not substantial and the plant isexpected to restart operations in the third quarter. In the meantime,we agreed with Pamco to divert shipments of ore to other buyers, soour sales volumes for the year will not be affected by this tragic event.”

During the first quarter of 2011 Nickel Asia shipped ore worth PHP1.97 billion, an increase of PHP 996 million on the corresponding pe-riod of 2010. The Rio Tuba mine shipped 396,000 wet metric tonnes(wmt) of saprolite ore and 826,000 wmt of limonite ore, while the Tag-anito mine shipped 203,000 wmt of saprolite ore. The other two ope-rating mines, Hinatuan and Cagdianao in north-easter n Mindanao,started shipments of saprolite and limonite ore in April.

Acoje trial continuesTHE heap leach trial at Eur opean Nickel’s Acoje project on LuzonIsland is continuing with the two heaps being operated in closedcircuit mode in order to increase metal concentrations. By Augustthe high concentration of pr egnant leach solution (PLS) fr om theheaps will be fed to the hydrometallurgical recovery plant which isbeing configured on site.

This plant will test the company’ s enhanced metals recovery pro-cess flow-sheet and will produce separate nickel hydroxide and cobalthydroxide products. Once the leach cycle is complete the stack willbe rinsed, neutralized and rehabilitated.

Irrigation of heap 1 began in April. This heap consists of about 2000tonnes of agglomerated nickel laterite ore stacked on a 33 metre by18 metre pad to a height of 4 metres. Irrigation is with diluted sulphuricacid using a network of drippers and wobblers in combination in orderto test the best delivery method.

PLS production occurred very rapidly with breakthrough occurringwithin 12 hours of the start of irrigation. This shows that the stackingand agglomeration of heap 1 was successful and that acid solution isable to percolate through the heap freely. The PLS, which consists ofdissolved metals in acid, then flowed freely to the PLS pond.

During May/June the company agglomerated and stacked heap 2,which sits adjacent to heap 1 on the heap leach pad, in order to testthe combining of the primary and secondary phases of heap leaching.

The trial pads are also designed to test rain mitigation techniquesand have a combination of HDPE raincoats on the sides of the heap,which also improve slope stability, and a layer of r ocky saprolite oreon top to protect the heap surface.

The trial results at the heap leach trial site will be used in the bank-able feasibility study (BFS) which is under way at Acoje. The recruit-ment of key personnel and consultants for fast-tracking of the BFSis on track with selection of the owner’s team study manager andproject engineer completed.The nickel facilities in the Rio Tuba area.

Irrigation of heap one at European Nickel’s heap leach trial site at the Acoje project.



Philippines

Meanwhile, Philippine company DMCI con-tinues to mine and stockpile dir ect shippingore in preparation for shipments fr om theirport in Santa Cruz. DMCI is undertaking allthe financial risk, operations and marketingassociated with the mining and sale of thenickel laterite ore and pays European Nickela royalty fee on each shipment.

Tampakan partners confidentPARTNERS involved in the massive TampakanCopper-Gold Project are determined to main-tain the schedule of beginning mine develop-ment in 2012 and commer cial production by2016 despite delays caused by a r egional re-gulation banning open-pit mining. Local ope-rator Sagittarius Mines and its overseaspartners Xstrata Copper and Indophil Resour-ces are confident that Pr esident BenignoAquino III will take charge of resolving the issue.

The $5.9-billion project, said to cover thelargest undeveloped copper-gold deposit inSouth East Asia, has been described as ha-ving the potential to be the largest mine in thePhilippines and the fifth-largest copper minein the world by 2016. It is pr ojected to add1% to Philippines’ gr oss domestic productannually after 2016.

Last year, the South Cotabato regional go-vernment passed a new environmental codebanning open-pit mining, a move that hascaused consternation to the Tampakan con-sortium as well as other mining and quarryoperators in this region of Mindanao.

While confident of positive national go-vernment intervention, Sagittarius has alsorecently started forwarding to local officialsan environment impact study (EIS) which islikely to be a key to overtur ning the miningban covering the site. Feedback fr om theconsultations will be used to finalize the stu-dy’s draft before it is ultimately submitted tothe national government.

The study identifies the potential envir on-mental and social impacts of the pr oposedmining operation as well as the strategies ofSagittarius to mitigate such. It details the po-tential impact on water r esources such ascontamination due to discharge from the pro-ject site, generation of tailings and waste rockand clearing of rainforests. The company pro-poses mitigation measures such as putting inplace a water management system which in-volves treatment of all mine water prior to re-lease from the site as well as having storagefor waste rock and tailings, and a plan forclearing procedures.

Xstrata Copper’s Tampakan general mana-ger Andrew Pickford told those attending aPhilippines-Australia Business Council mee-ting in Sydney in mid-June that he expects toAquino administration to resolve the issue be-fore the consortium makes a decision on theproject next year.

He said EIS consultations would take 3-6months, after which Sagittarius would lodge anapplication to get an environmental compliancecertificate. It then hopes to get a declaration ofmining feasibility from the national government.

Philippines trade secretary Gregory L Do-mingo told the Sydney forum that the Presidenthad vowed to directly tackle the dispute. Healso said that the gover nment is on track tostart bidding out infrastructure contracts in thecountry this month.

Indophil, which holds a 37.5% stake in themine, will r etain its stake after San MiguelCorp decided to let go of an exclusive periodto launch a takeover bid. The company’s vicepresident Gavan Collery says it has raisedfunds to cover its involvement up to 2012.“We’re hell-bent on maintaining direct and ac-tive interest in the project through the com-mitment stage and on to development.”

Didipio construction startsCONSTRUCTION has started at OceanaGold’sDidipio copper/gold project with commissio-ning of the process plant scheduled to start inthe fourth quarter of 2012. The project has esti-mated gold reserves of 1.68 million ounces andcopper reserves of 229 million tonnes.

The processing plant will start operation at anannual capacity of 2.5 million tonnes and willramp up to 3.5 million tonnes by the end of thesecond year. Didipio will pr oduce an annualaverage of 100,000 ounces of gold and 14,000tonnes of copper. During the first six years of a16-year life of mine, annual gold production willremain at around 100,000 ounces, but copperproduction will increase to about 18,000 ton-nes over the same period.

Ausenco has the contract to complete the en-gineering design and procurement with mem-bers of OceanaGold’s construction and projectmanagement team working alongside the Aus-enco team in Australia to oversee the project.

Didipio is estimated to cost $185 million todevelop, with ar ound $12 million alr eadyspent to date. The project will be transforma-tional for ASX and TSX listed OceanaGold,according to managing dir ector and CEOMick Wilkes, and would give the company aplatform to expand further into the Philippinesand throughout the Asia Pacific.

“During the past six months, we have beenworking hard to unlock significant valuethrough adjustments to the design of themine, process plant and infrastructure, whichhas seen annual gold production increase by45% and annual copper production increaseby 69% over the life of the mine.”

Mining will be undertaken in six stages overa 14-year period, taking the open pit down270 metres to the valley floor. The maximumplanned annual mining rate is estimated ataround 24-million tonnes.

An aerial view of the proposed layout at OceanaGold’s Didipio project.



Philippines

The access to the underground area througha decline from the side of the open pit is expec-ted to start in 2016, with underground produc-tion planned for 2020 and ramping up to 1.2million tonnes a year by 2023. The under -ground mining is expected to take place for atleast six years of the mine’s life and will run con-currently with the open pit operation.

OceanaGold also has the Macraes goldfieldin Otago, in the south of New Zealand’s SouthIsland, which is made up of the Macraesopen pit and Frasers undergr ound mines. Italso operates the Reefton open-pit mine onthe west coast of the South Island and cur -rently produced around 270,000 ounces an-nually from these two operations.

Taysan mineralization extendedDRILLING by Crazy Horse Resour ces conti-nues to extend mineralization at the T aysanCopper-Gold Project in southern Luzon. Thedeposit remains open and feasibility drilling con-tinues with six diamond drill rigs in operation.

One hole returned and intersection of 426metres from 40 metres @ 0.23% copper, 0.10grams/tonne gold and 0.52 grams/tonne silver,including 52 metres from 254 metres @ 0.35%copper, 0.18 grams/tonne gold and 0.90grams/tonne silver. The same hole also extendsthe resource to depth with 52 metres from 598metres @ 0.14% copper , 0.05 grams/tonnegold and 0.66 grams/tonne silver . This is 80metres below the previously known base of ore.

Another hole also continued to confirm theexistence of deeper ore zones with an inter-section of 10 metr es from 664 metr es @0.28% copper, 0.06 grams/tonne gold, and0.52 grams/tonne silver while another holecontinued to confirm the existence of signi-ficant silver grades associated with the cop-per-gold resource.

Crazy Horse’s president and CEO JohanRaadsma says, “The ongoing positive r esultsfurther substantiate the Taysan deposit as a re-liable, predictable and growing deposit. Persi-stent silver grades ar e fantastic and we willfurther these toward a compliant resource.”

Taysan contains a copper -gold porphyrydeposit with an inferred resource, and is com-prised of two mining exploration permits andthree mining exploration permit applicationsover five contiguous claim blocks covering atotal area of 11,254 hectares. Taysan is in awell-developed mining province and readilyaccessible by road, being 20km east of theprovincial capital and deep water commercial

port of Batangas City. The company is con-ducting a confirmatory scoping study, whichremains on track and on schedule.

A recent independent research study ana-lysed the expected positive economic impactof construction and initial pr oduction fromTaysan on both a regional and national level.The key findings demonstrate that Taysan isexpected to be a major driver of employmentand contribute about 1% to national GDP.

Johan Raadsma says, “W e have workedvery hard on our social licence to operate inthe Province of Batangas and ar e excitedabout the report’s findings that r esponsiblemining development will be a viable tool forpoverty alleviation, education, positive econo-mic impact while providing a return to share-holders and gover nment alike. W e lookforward to working closely with the Local Go-vernment Units in monitoring and impr ovingon the key indicators r elated to the socio-economic well being of the community.”

The report followed receipt of a formal r e-solution of support to develop the pr ojectfrom the Provincial Board of Batangas and aformal resolution of appreciation from the Tay-san Municipal Council.

The company has also executed a bindingasset sale and purchase agreement with a pri-vate Philippines company, to acquire its 15.94hectare port facility in Batangas. The port is onthe southern end of Batangas Bay and adjoinsthe Shell Malampayan onshore gas plant.

Strong Tambis potentialA DETAILED mapping program by Medusa Mi-ning’s Philippines operating company PhilsagaMining has highlighted the excellent r egionalpotential of the Tambis tenement, which inclu-des the Bananghilig gold deposit. Medusa be-lieves there is excellent potential for additionaldiscoveries of breccia-hosted, epithermal veinsand quartz stockwork gold mineralization wit-hin a large intrusive-breccia complex mappedover an area measuring about 7km by 3kmalong a well defined north-easterly tr endingstructural and alteration corridor.

New outcrops of porphyry and related stylesof copper mineralization have also been locatedat the Sawahon Creek prospect, at the lowerBananghilig River prospect, and southwest ofthe Bananghilig deposit in the extensive skar narea which is associated with the fertile cop-per-bearing Supon diorite and the adjacentKamarangan porphyry copper -molybdenumprospect. Drilling is continuing with six drillingrigs at Bananghilig. Medusa’s managing direc-tor Geoff Davis says, “This ongoing mappinghas significantly enhanced the regional potentialof the Tambis District. We see strong similaritieswith the Wafi Golpu Project in Papua New Gui-nea with respect to the regional setting, rocktypes, mineralization styles and potential.

“In addition there are many similarities to therichly mineralized Baguio District north of Ma-nila which has produced about 28 million oun-ces of gold and 2.8 million tonnes of copper.”

Drilling at Crazy Horse Resources’ Taysan Copper-Gold Project in southern Luzon.



Philippines

The Tambis Project is operated under a mi-ning agreement with Philex Gold Philippinesover a granted mineral pr oduction sharingagreement (MPSA) which covers 6262 hec-tares. In addition the company is ear ning a70% interest in a joint ventur e through MRLGold Phils with Apical Mining Corporationwhich covers an adjacent MPSA applicationwith an area of 2084 hectares.

The Tambis district is in the regionally exten-sive Eastern Mindanao volcano-plutonic arc,an area with known pr ecious metals andbase-metals mines, deposits and occurr en-ces. This metallogenic r egion is one of themost significant epithermal and porphyrycopper districts in the Philippines, includinggold and copper-gold deposits at Diwalwal,Co-O, Kingking, Amacan, Masara, Boyon-gan, Bayugo, Siana and Placer.

Meanwhile, at Medusa’s operating Co-OGold Project permitting is progressing for anexpansion in annual production capacity to200,000 ounces. The construction time forthe new plant after the necessary r egulatoryapprovals are granted is estimated at about21 months, and the full benefits of the expan-sion are expected to be r ealized from mid-2013. Medusa has contracted Ar ccon (WA)for the process engineering, plant design andconstruction supervision.

Dilong EPA cancelledPHILIPPINE Metals continues to engagewith the Philippine gover nment Mines andGeosciences Bureau (MGB) regarding can-cellation of its exploration permit application(EPA) for the Dilong copper-gold project. Thecompany believes that the EPA has not been

cancelled legally and is confident it will bereinstated in due course.

Since the date of local elections in Tubo, Abra,last October, the company has accelerated itsconstructive efforts to work with the new localgovernment and community leaders to gaintheir support for EPA at Dilong. Negotiationswith the rightful indigenous peoples to acquir efree and prior informed consent (FPIC) havebeen initiated and ar e progressing positively,and consultation with the Local Gover nmentUnit’s Sanggunian has been ongoing, both ofwhich are key aspects of the EPA process.

However, as a result of the MGB’s ‘use itor lose it policy’, which it has taken steps to

enforce, the company earlier this year recei-ved formal notification fr om the MGB thatthe Dilong EPA has been cancelled. Thecompany believes that it has not been can-celled legally and is in discussions with theMGB to resolve this matter.

It has filed with the MGB central of fice theappropriate objection notice, supported bydocumentation already filed with the MGB re-gional office which demonstrates that thecompany has been actively pr ogressing itspermit application and complying with all r e-quirements set by the gover nment. In addi-tion, the company notes that in its case, theMGB appears not to have observed its ‘three-letter-policy’ of notification in exacting com-pliance in respect of its Dilong EPA.

The company stresses that it is supportiveof the MGB’s efforts to drive r eform in thePhilippines mining industry and will continueto engage with and support the gover nmentin its efforts to implement its reform program.

Meanwhile, Craig Lindsay has agr eed tojoin the company’s Board of Directors repla-cing Lou Clinton who has resigned his posi-tion as a director to pursue other inter ests.Craig Lindsay has more than 20 years’ ex-perience in corporate finance, investmentbanking and business development in NorthAmerica and Asia and is currently presidentand CEO of Otis Gold Corp and managingdirector of Arbutus Gr ove Capital Corp, aprivate company offering corporate financeand merchant banking services.

A schematic cross section of Medusa Mining’s Tambis tenement.

A massive sulphide outcrop at one of Philippine Metals’ properties.


Masbate 10 tonnes milestoneAFTER achieving the milestone of pouring 10tonnes of gold from its Masbate Gold Project,CGA Mining is continuing to forge ahead byupgrading the process plant and undertakingan aggressive US$10 million exploration pro-gram. When complete the upgrading will en-able the plant to annually process 6.5 milliontonnes while the exploration program is focu-sed on the conversion of additional resourcesto reserves and delineating new reserve andresource ounces.

Masbate is the largest gold pr oject in thePhilippines and was successfully developedwith first gold poured in May 2009. The pro-ject has a total indicated r esource base of153.41 million tonnes @ 0.92 grams/tonnefor 4.55 million ounces, total inferr ed re-source base of 127.15 million tonnes @ 0.79grams/tonne for 3.22 million ounces and a

probable reserve of 92.2 million tonnes @1.0 grams/tonne for 3.03 million ounces.

In its first year of operation the project produ-ced more than 150,000 ounces and is on trackto produce at an annual rate of mor e than200,000 ounces. The existing 4 million tonneplant was constructed by Leighton ContractorsAsia without one lost time injury . The miningcontract for Masbate was awarded to Leighton,the largest mining contractor in the world.

Recent drilling has returned high grade in-tercepts at Libra East, which is immediatelyadjacent to the Main Vein Pit. An extensionof highly mineralized quartz veining has alsobeen identified immediately to the north ofthe planned Colorado pit.

Highlights of the drilling include 6 metres @1.34 grams/tonne gold from 149 metres, 9metres @ 1.55 grams/tonne from 169 metres,14 metres @ 2.25 grams/tonne fr om 131 metres, 30 metres @ 1.57 grams/tonne from92 metres, 7 metr es @ 7.11 grams/tonnefrom 4 metr es, 32 metr es @ 1.98 grams/tonne from 74 metres and 17 metres @ 1.90grams/tonne from 167 metres.

The proposed Libra East pit forms the north-western end of the Main V ein Pit. The currentdesign is limited by drill data and not minerali-zation extents. Results point to the potential foradding additional resources at Libra East.

The Grandview pit forms the northern part ofthe main Colorado pit. Recent exploration dril-ling 300 metres to the NNW of Grandview hasintersected a mineralized quartz vein-stock-work system which appears to be an exten-sion of the mineralization curr ently being

mined. Further drilling, including scissor holes,is planned for this area.

A 41-hole program of resource infill drillingis also being conducted in the planned MainVein Pit targeting the inferr ed section of 4major veins within the Binstar zone as well asthe Main Vein zone itself.

CGA has recently spun out its African assetsin Ratel Group and also holds a 23% interest inSt Augustine Gold and Copper, which is earninga 60% interest in the world class King-king Cop-per-Gold Porphyry Project in the Philippines.

Major drilling at T’BoliA MAJOR undergr ound drilling pr ogram isunder way at Cadan Resour ces’ T’Boli Gold-

Silver Project in a bid to expand the r esourceenvelope and to upgrade existing resource ca-tegories. The first hole of this pr ogram has in-tersected a number of mineralized zones andone of these zones displayed visible free gold.

This program is advancing at the same timeas underground development of T’Boli. Thesouth crosscut from the advancing east declinehas partially penetrated the 40 metr e-wideSouth Vein alteration system with an initial 8.6metre section assaying 8.2 grams/tonne gold.

Other development drive sampling returns in-clude 1.25 metres @ 134.0 grams/tonne gold,2.1 metres @ 6.1 grams/tonne, 1.7 metr es @28.1 grams/tonne, 1.6 metr es @ 12.7grams/tonne, 1.0 metres @ 21.5 grams/tonneand 1.85 metres @ 14.5 grams/tonne.

Old records show that further individual veinswill be intersected as the cr osscut completelyexposes the 40 metre width of the South Veinalteration system. A poorly documented butprospective alteration system is known to existsome 70 metres further south. This system willbe tested with the underground drilling.

Resource definition drilling at the T agpuraporphyry skarn on Cadan’s Comval projectcontinues to produce strong assays, inclu-ding 77 metres from 2 metres @ 1.26% cop-per and 0.42 grams/tonne gold.

This drilling is within the zone which has apotential tonnage of 10 to 15 million tonnes.The completion of this drilling program, toget-her with previous drilling and open pit benchsampling, provide a database of suf ficientdensity to allow the upgrading of the potentialtonnage to a measured resource.

Other recent results include 21 metres from 4metres @ 1.59% copper and 0.4 grams/tonnegold, 106 metres from surface @ 0.65% cop-per, 98 metres from 2 metres @ 0.32% copper,69 metres from 2 metres @ 0.30% copper, and34 metres from 4 metres @ 0.41% copper.

Drilling completed to date, combined withopen pit bench sampling has defined a mas-sive magnetite - chalcopyrite/chalcocite skarnstrike length of 350 metres. Surface mappingof magnetite has extended the strike lengthsome 300 metres to the south while r ecentdrill site preparation has uncovered minerali-zation 100 metres to the north.

A number of other skar ns have been map-ped and new discoveries ar e ongoing. Thetotal skarn potential associated with the largetonnage porphyry copper deposits is yet to bedetermined. Multiples of announced skarn po-tential is a realistic expectation. Drilling of thelarge tonnage porphyry potential is ongoing.

A view over the processing facilities at CGA Mining’s Masbate project on Masbate Island.

July/August 2011 | ASIA Miner | 17

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