TVI Resource Development Philippines Inc. (TVIRD) may push ahead with its planned listing on the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) this year, but only if prices of metals go up and if the government makes clear its fiscal policy related to mining.
“We would need to see the steep decline in commodity prices backing up, and hopefully things will turn around by the second half of this year,” TVIRD chair Clifford M. James said Friday in an interview. James was the keynote speaker at the Philippine Mining Club’s quarterly meeting at the Manila Polo Club.
“We want to see some certainty in government policy, whether the tax regime would come out negative for the mining industry,” he added.
The chair of the Villar-controlled firm was referring to the long-awaited new law being crafted in Congress that would spell out by how much the government would raise its share in mining revenues.
James said the company’s going public within the year was a target that it was willing to move back if needed. “There is no panic for us, we will list when it makes sense to us,” he said. “Right now, I would not advice the board of directors to do this.”
Asked how much TVIRD wanted to raise from an IPO, James said this has not yet been determined.
“We don’t need the money but it would be nice to have the money,” he said.
If TVIRD does decide to go ahead with the IPO, James said the proceeds would be used for working capital as well as for funding the acquisition of additional assets and the possible construction of a nickel-processing plant for the Agata nickel mine.
TVIRD holds a 60-percent stake in Agata Mining Ventures Inc. (AMVI), which exports nickel laterite directly from its mine in Agusan del Norte.
TVIRD also has a right to earn a 60-percent interest in Agata Processing Inc., which is working to put up a nickel-processing plant for the Agata nickel mine. Aside from that, AMVI is pushing for a possible production of limestone in an area near the Agata nickel mine.
TVIRD fully owns the Balabag project, which straddles Zamboanga del Sur and Zamboanga Sibugay, from where the company hopes to produce gold and silver. Ronnel W. Domingo