Philex obtains $200M in financial assistance for Padcal Mine rehab

November 18, 2012 7:05pm

Hong Kong-based investment management firm First Pacific Co. Limited will provide Philex Mining Corp. an aggregate facility of $200 million for its clean-up efforts in the areas affected by the Padcal Mine waste spill in Itogon, Benguet.

First Pacific made its first investment in mining by investing in Philex in 2008 through Metro Pacific Investments Corporation.  MPIC chairman and Philex chairman and CEO Manuel V. Pangilinan also serves as First Pacific's managing director and CEO.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Philex president and COO Eulalio Austin said that the company has begun the construction of an open spillway for tailings pond 3. Philex is in consultation with Golder Associates Pty Ltd. and Snowy Mountains Engineering Corp. for the design and construction of the spillway.

Philex will also appoint consultants for the construction of a new tailings pond that it is planning to build along with the spillway.

While maintaining that the waste spill was caused by “force majeure” and that the spill was not toxic, Pangilinan also said that the company is “cooperating fully” with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ Mines and Geosciences Bureau to clean up the area and to implement “a rehabilitation and remediation program to address the effects of the leak.” — BM, GMA News