MANILA, Philippines — Oriental Vision Mining Philippines Corp. (OVMPC) recently signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with publicly listed Lodestar Investment Holdings Corp. to explore, develop and operate a 7,000-hectare coal property in the municipalities of Tago and Marihatag in Surigao del Sur.

OVMPC, owned by businessman Salvador B. Zamora II, is investing P300 million in the project.

Based on a study, the property has 182 million metric tons of coal geologic resource. Previous exploration delineated 3.5 million metric tons of mineable reserves in two out of seven blocks in the coal property. The coal is sub-bituminous type, with heating value ranging from 7,200-9,300 BTU/lb.

Lodestar has controlling shares in Abacus Coal Exploration Development Corp., the project proponent which secured the mining rights over the coal property.