Alsons to put up 400-MW power plant for Tampakan

Alsons Energy Development Corp., a subsidiary of the Alcantara-led Alsons Consolidated Resources Inc. (ACR), is investing about $900 million to put up a 400-megawatt power facility that will serve the future power requirements of the Tampakan copper-gold mine in South Cotabato.

In a statement, Alsons said it would be pushing through with the said power project as it had already signed a supply agreement with mining firm Sagittarius Mines Inc. (SMI), which will be developing the world-class, $5.9-bilion Tampakan copper-gold mine.

Under the agreement, Alsons Energy will develop an open-cycle gas turbine and coal-fired power station, to be located in the Kamanga Agro-Industrial Ecozone at Brgy. Kamanga in Maasim, Sarangani. The power station’s output will be dedicated to the proposed mine.

The new power facility will be owned and operated by A/S Power Development Inc. (APDI), a subsidiary of Alsons Consolidated which was organized to establish and manage the 400-MW plant.

According to Alsons Energy, other preliminary project development undertakings for the power facility, such as project financing, are expected to commence within the year.

The power plant is expected to start generating power by 2017 but it will only be fully operational by the middle of 2019.

SMI was able to secure an environmental compliance certificate for its planned mining operations last month. This allows the company to proceeds with its mining project. Proponents of the project are hoping to start commercial operations of the mine by 2019.

The Tampakan Copper-Gold Mine Project in Tampakan, South Cotabato contains the world’s biggest known copper deposit. SMI claimed the mine’s operations would generate earnings that would be big enough to raise the Philippines’ gross domestic product (GDP) by one percentage point yearly during the copper mine’s 25-year life span.