Investment firm embarks on limestone mining

Investment firm Premiere Horizon Alliance Corp. has ventured into limestone mining exploration in Southern Palawan, seen to be its potential ticket to diversification into cement production.

The board of Premiere Horizon approved a deal to acquire up to 85 percent of equity of Palawan Star Mining Ventures Inc. and Pyramid Hill Mining Industrial Corp., holders of mineral production sharing agreements (MPSAs) covering about 10,384 hectares.

This MPSA area contains “probable commercial quality limestone deposits located in the mineralized area of Southern Palawan,” it disclosed to the Philippine Stock Exchange.

Premiere Horizon intends to fund the precommercial development of a “sustainable and integrative ecosystem of environmentally conducive businesses,” the disclosure said.

The precommercial development cost is estimated at about P500 million, including the generation of limestone resource identification and validation reports, preparation of project feasibility studies, environmental protection programs, and inclusive community development plans and programs, securing of government regulatory permits and licenses, and other relevant development project components.

Development cost will be funded through an initial equity infusion and a combination of debt and additional equity.

Valued by the stock market at about P816 million, Premiere Horizon is an investment holding company that focuses on countryside development using new technologies in food security, natural resources development, life sciences and technology and tourism.—DORIS DUMLAO-ABADILLA