BIZ BUZZ: Keeping Tampakan in Filipino hands
With gold prices surging to dizzying heights—now topping $5,000 per ounce in the global market—wouldn’t it make sense for partners SM and Consunji groups to operate the massive but undeveloped Tampakan copper-gold project in South Cotabato Asap?
That is indeed on their investment horizon now, but what has changed is that the Sy and Consunji families are now considering to jump-start this on their own.
They may end up keeping Tampakan, touted as the largest untapped gold and copper mine in Southeast Asia, in Filipino hands despite lucrative overtures from powerful foreign entities, several sources told Biz Buzz.
Recall that a Chinese group, particularly Aluminum Corp., has been interested in Tampakan. Giving them just a teeny-weenie stake would have unlocked a lot of money that’s tempting even to the country’s wealthiest family.
The Sys and Consunjis parked some of their funds in the open mining project about a decade ago when nobody wanted to touch it with a 10-foot pole due to the unfavorable regulatory environment. The late Environment Secretary Gina Lopez then made it a difficult regime for the extractive industry, and so did the local government of South Cotabato, which banned open-pit mining.
The record-high gold prices are now making these local groups more confident that they could do this without external backing.
“That’s a possibility,” a source from the SM group said. “We’re still talking about it.”
Another SM source said doing so would also avoid any backlash, and/or distraction, amid the West Philippine Sea dispute with China.
Their partner, the Consunji group, is no stranger to the mining business, having long engaged in nickel and coal mining, apart from their expertise in construction and engineering.
We hear that the Consunjis likewise favor keeping Tampakan in Filipino hands.
Meanwhile, the SM group’s listed shell company, Dominion Holdings, continues to see skyrocketing share prices (again hitting the 50-percent upside limit yesterday) as stock pundits are excited about the prospects of Tampakan using this as its backdoor entry to the stock market.
If all goes well, with or without a foreign partner, we hear from reliable sources that the Tampakan project could start commercial operations in about three years.
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