PHILEX Mining Corporation has made its deposit for the final mine decommissioning and rehabilitation for its Padcal mine, which is expected to hit the end of its extended lifespan in 2024.
Mining corporations are required by law to deposit the funds required for their mine decommissioning and rehabilitation once the mine stops operating. Philex has accomplished said deposit for the Padcal mine to the tune of P137 million.
The plans are also required to go through an approval and review process by the mine rehabilitation fund committee before being submitted to the regional office of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB).
The Padcal mine site has exceeded its expected lifespan multiple times. First opened in 1958, the Padcal mine’s lifespan was most recently extended past December of 2022.
Philex is eyeing extending the lifespan and operations of its Padcal mine in Benguet beyond its supposed 2024 end of operations to boost long-term income.
Eulalio Austin Jr., Philex Mining president and chief executive, said that the company is currently studying the feasibility of the efforts and that its approval would be based on multiple factors.
Said factors include the remaining resources to be mined, the cost of processing and producing the metals as well as the procurement of necessary paperwork and permits for continued operation, and favorable market prices for the copper and gold produced by the mine.
Meanwhile, in the case that the Padcal mine’s lifespan is not extended, Philex has plans to begin developing the first phase of the Silangan copper-gold project in Surigao del Norte this year, which is expected to begin full operations in 2023 and provide the mining company an income buffer should the Padcal mine not continue operations past 2024.
Philex pegged initial spending for the Surigao mine to be $224 million for development, which would allow the production of around 2,000 tons of ore per day, which will be ramped up in the development plan throughout its lifespan to eventually hit 12,000 tons a day worth of production.
