Apex Mining eyes to expand operations in Davao de Oro site

Listed gold producer Apex Mining Co. Inc. said taking over a mining entity in Davao de Oro would allow the company to scale up operations leading to a steady cash flow in a couple of years.

The acquisition of Asia Alliance Mining Resources Corp. (AAMRC) for $81.5 million (P4.5 billion) would enable the company to harness additional resources within the area and build an additional facility, Apex Mining president and CEO Luis Sarmiento said.

“This, in turn, gives us the cash flow in just a couple of years from the buyout of Asia Alliance,” he said during the firm’s annual stockholders’ meeting.

“With the recent acquisition of Asia Alliance which has an operating agreement over North Davao property, we are confident of prolonging the life of the 3,000 tons per day beyond 2032,” he added.

Apex Mining had said the deal, completed in February this year, would allow for expansion of operations in Maco town while providing a suitable site for building a new tailings storage facility (TSF).

The TSF, it added, would sustain and boost operations upon reaching full capacity in the next three years. “More importantly, the acquisition enables us to maintain this level of production until 2032,” Sarmiento said.

He said the company would also finally be able to resume copper production that would give it more wiggle room to develop copper gold porphyry deposits found within the existing mining tenement.

“Should we proceed with the development, the copper mill, another TSL and waste rock stockpile will be put up within the NDMC (North Davao Mining Corp.) tenement area,” he said, adding: “This will officially bring us back to producing copper which we used to do in the 1970s.”

Exploration

Sarmiento disclosed plans to tap both existing and new mineral resources, noting the area’s “brownfield deposits [and] greenfield prospects.”

Apex Mining, he said, also intended to grow its gold resource base.

“Should exploration results merit an additional mine as well as a mill outside of the current map site, we will look into the opportunity,” Sarmiento said.

AAMRC has interests by virtue of a notice of award issued by the Philippine Mining Development Corp. as the highest bidder for the joint operating agreement over copper mines and mining claims.

It covers 20,237 hectares situated in the municipalities of Mabini, Maco and Maragusan, which was outlined in NDMC’s application.

The project area was then amended to 19,135.12 hectares based on the area status and clearance issued by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ office in the Davao Region.

—Jordeene B. Lagare INQ