OceanaGold sees no reason for withdrawal of permit

The local unit of Australianowned OceanaGold Corp. maintains the government has no reason to cancel the company’s exploration permit covering the Didipio mine despite alleged complaints from the residents of Nueva Vizcaya.

“There should be no reason why that (exploration permit) should be withdrawn. We have not been officially advised by the Office of the Secretary,” OceanaGold Philippines chairman Joey Leviste said on the sidelines of the second day of the Mining Philippines Conference 2016.

The permit issued by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau ( MGB) in March this year authorized OceanaGold to conduct exploration activities in the broader region surrounding Didipio in the next five years.

“It was just granted to us. We have not yet started with the exploration although we’ve been waiting to start for a long time,” he added.

Environment Undersecretary and mining audit team head Leo Jasareno earlier said the local government unit wanted to use the land for agro-forestry rather than exploration as the exploration area is a rich agricultural area and is the citrus capital of Nueva Vizcaya.

“There are some agricultural activities in some places but we don’t go through those areas. We focus on highly-mineralized areas which by nature are not agricultural,” Leviste said.

Jasareno said there was a formal request to junk the request for renewal of the company’s exploration permit for five years.

“Anti-mining NGOs have been talking about our exploration permit. But we don’t want to dignify announcements from them by reacting to it,” Leviste said.

Leviste emphasized the company has the backing of the local and provincial governments.

OceanaGold is looking forward to a positive response from the DENR which has completed its audit on the company. It noted that it was able to secure international standards certification even before the MGB required it.

“The final exit was done in the provincial capitol and I have not heard from our country director on anything which means that’s a good thing, because if there’s something wrong, he would have called me immediately,” Leviste said.

Leviste assured that the company remains supportive of the Duterte government.

“The President just wants everyone to follow the law, protect the environment and be responsible. And we have no problem with that because that is exactly our mantra,” Leviste said.

The Didipio mine is a high grade gold-copper mine located approximately 270 kilometers north of Manila.

It is one of the lowest cost gold mines globally, with nominal production of 100,000 ounces of gold and 14,000 tons of copper.

The company’s mining claims cover about 15,000 hectares and around 900 hectares have been explored.

OceanaGold acquired the Didipio project in 2006 following its merger with Climax Mining.

Meanwhile, the company posted strong operational and financial results for the first semester of the year on the back of improved gold prices that offset high production cost.

OceanaGold posted a net income of $63.2 million and $330.8 million in revenues for the first half.