And this was published in the Sun Star, Davao on Aug. 20, 2009!!
Hal
KORONADAL CITY -- A foreign-backed firm is upgrading an old facility in T'boli, South Cotabato for metallurgical test purposes in line with the efforts to start the initial non-commercial production phase of gold and silver deposits, a top company official yesterday said.
Edgar D. Martinez, Tribal Mining Corp. president, said the rehabilitation of an old plant within the town proper is underway for the test production phase to gain ground.
"We're utilizing the old plant because it has an existing ECC [environmental compliance certificate] while the company at the same time continue seeking a larger ECC for a plant that shall be put up at the mines development site in [the village of] Kematu," he said.
Tribal Mining Corp., which is backed by Canadian exploration firm Cadan Resources Corp, acquired a Mineral Production Sharing Agreement covering 85 hectares in 1997. It has a term of 25 years.
Martinez said that due to a problem with small-scale mining operators in the area, the company will likely go into commercial production stage next year, also taking into account the permitting process period for its larger ECC.
The firm is late by about two months in blasting activity schedule to advance its mineralized tunnel systems due to the resumption of operations by small scale mining operators, he lamented.
South Cotabato Governor Daisy P. Avance Fuentes has allowed the small-scale miners to resume their activities after banning them for about nine months at the so-called "people's mining site" straddling 21 hectares.
The people's mining site is within Tribal Mining's MPSA territory.
Tribal Mining and the small-scale mining operators have yet to agree on the blasting schedule of the former, a dispute that has already reached the local court, Martinez said.
The mining executive said the company will use the facility in the town’s poblacion area for four to six months for its test production phase.
The facility was previously used by small scale miners with its ECC issued to Dibu S. Tuan, currently a member of the board of directors of Tribal Mining.
Tuan and Tribal Mining forged a contract for the latter to use the old facility, Martinez said.
Over the weekend, Brett Taylor, Cadan Resources chief executive officer, announced it has started the construction of six carbon-in-leach tanks and associated plant equipment with a capacity of up to 300 tons per day.
Preliminary civil works started last month and major works are to begin this month once China-made mining equipment arrives in the town, he said.
Cadan Resources recently purchased new jaw and cone crushers, ballmill, gravity circuit, spares and ancillary equipment from Zhengzhou Zhongding Heavy Duty Machine Manufacturing Co Ltd.
This development continues Cadan's progress of becoming a gold-silver producer, Taylor noted.
Based on current development costs, the company estimates a production cost range cost between US$ 250-350 per ounce of gold.
The T'boli project has deposits of 2.4 million tons, containing 420,000 ounces of gold and 1.6 million ounces of silver, Cadan Resource said earlier. Excavation of deposits will employ underground or tunneling method.
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