Philex subsidiary forms pro-environment firm

Silangan Mindanao Mining Corp. Inc., a unit of Pangilinan-led Philex Mining Corp., has established a community corporation in Surigao del Norte aimed at strengthening environmental activities and providing additional income to residents of the mining site.

The newly-incorporated unit called the Bansiwag Corp. will serve as a separate entity which will pursue pro-environmental activities.

Bansiwag was registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission last March with a total authorized capital stock of P600,000 divided into 3,000 shares with par value of P200 each share.

It is purely communitybased, comprising 12 peoples’ organizations within the company’s host and neighboring communities. To date, Bansiwag has a total of 297 stockholders.

“The community corporation will take over the company’s nursery and tree-planting activities at our reforestation areas, as well as the office services, food catering, housekeeping services and laundry services,” Silangan president and chief executive officer Yulo Perez said.

In the first half, over 200,000 seedlings equivalent to 132 hectares of reforested area have been planted with various trees.

“This will be mutually beneficial as it promotes local employment and sustainability of our existing livelihood organizations within the host communities of Silangan,” Perez said.

Silangan turned over P380,000 to the community corporation that will serve as its initial capital.

The Silangan project is Philex’s next big prospective mine that will replace the Padcal copper-gold mine in Benguet whose mine life is expected to end by December 2022.

The company has invested over P13 billion for the initial exploration and related works on the site as of the end of 2014, on top of the estimated commercial-operations project cost of approximately $1.2 billion.