Manila Mining to explore anew Surigao del Norte mine site

Manila Mining Corp. (MMC) on Monday said it would resume its exploration drilling in its mining tenements in Placer, Surigao del Norte following the discovery of Ntina Deeps, a gold-rich porphyry copper resource below its previous mine site.

With a funding of P350 million, the company will as soon as possible embark on a two- to three-year exploration program under the Ntina Pit, which was it’s mining site until 2001.

It will also explore other prospective porphyry copper-gold deposits in the Ophelia, Suyoc, Nene and Mapaso mines.

MMC president Bryan U. Yap said the buoyant copper and gold prices and future demand projections provided an opportune time for the company to resume exploration and drilling.

This is also especially timely as MMC continued to bleed in the first half of the year, hitting a net loss of P885,000. In the same period last year, net loss was at P1.05 million.

“Potential exists to greatly increase the gold-copper resources already discovered by MMC in Surigao. This is indeed a very exciting time for the company as we fully evaluate already defined multiple targets in the coming years,” said MMC senior exploration consultant Douglas Kirwin.

While MMC still cannot estimate the volume of ore that may be mined from Ntina Deep, Kirwin noted the exploration targets have many geological similarities to the Far South East at Lepanto and Philex’s Boyongan project, also situated in Surigao.

MMC stockholders last week approved an increase in the company’s authorized capital stock to P4.6 billion. The increase will be supported by a 1:5 stock right offering that will raise P519 million to fund the exploration program, settlement of liabilities as well as for working capital. INQ