Mines bureau ignores feasibility studies submitted by rival factions

DAVAO CITY, Philippines—The Southern Mindanao regional office of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau said Thursday it was waiting for Nationwide Development Corp. (Nadecor) to get its act together and would not act on any of two feasibility studies submitted by rival factions within the company on the Kingking project in Pantukan, Compostela Valley.

Edilberto Arreza, MGB regional director director, said US-based St. Augustine Gold and Copper Ltd. (SAGCL), Nadecor’s partner, has not submitted any Declaration  of Mining Project Feasibility (DMPF)on the gold mining project.

Arreza said the faction of Nadecor chairman Conrado Calalang was the first to submit a DMPF last month. A few weeks later, the other faction under Jose Ricafort submitted a separate DMPF.

He said because both groups submitted separate DMPFs under Nadecor’s name, the MGB decided not to act on any of the documents.

He said the MGB has not even looked at what the DMPFs actually contain, contrary to reports that one of them had been found to have deficiencies and defects.

“We did not say it was defective. We haven’t even looked at it. The problem is with Nadecor because of their squabbling,” Arreza said.

He said that instead of acting on any of the DMPFs, he advised the two groups to settle their internal problem on ownership of the mining company first.

“We will wait for them to settle the issue,” he said.

Arreza said it  takes the MGB a month to act on any DMPF, one of the requirements for a mining project to start. A DMPF attests to the competence of a mining company and its ability to implement a mining project.