Friday, July 24, 2009 | MANILA, PHILIPPINES [ BusinessWorld Online ]
RIGHTS TO explore the Upper Ulip-Paraiso portion of Mount Diwalwal in southern Mindanao has been awarded to a consortium of local miners.
"There is already a company who won the bid, Paraiso Consolidated Mining Corp.," Jaime T. de Veyra, vice-president of the state-run Philippine Mining Development Corp. (PMDC), told BusinessWorld.
Paraiso, a consortium of four local miners that include Paramina Earth Technologies, Inc., was given the exclusive rights to explore and eventually develop the 1,620-hectare Upper-Ulip area two weeks ago.
The 8,100-hectare Mt. Diwalwal in the municipality of Monkayo in Compostela Valley has attracted small-scale miners.
"They have a period of two years to explore the area, subject to extension," Mr. De Veyra said, adding that the exploration period began after the contract signing more than a week ago.
The first bidding failed late last year when no miner turned in an offer because of high commitment fees. The PMDC then reduced the first-year commitment fee to $500,000 from $1.5 million for the March 31 bidding, which again failed.
"For this project, commitment fee was set at P15 million but we got a P25.302-million [offer from Paraiso]," Mr. de Veyra said.
Two miners that pre-qualified for the third bidding last month were listed miner Omico Corp. with Asia Alliance Mining Resources Corp. as partner, and unlisted CNMC Mining and Development Corp.
"We will remain to be the administrator of the property and we will monitor the exploration period. If they produce, we get 5% royalty on gross produce," Mr. de Veyra said. — Neil Jerome C. Morales
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