Tampakan’s Estimated Resources Rise 10%

Xstrata Copper announced on December 5, 2007, that the mineral resource estimate for its Tampakan copper-gold project in the Philippines has increased by over 10% in both tonnage and contained copper, consolidating Tampakan's position as one of the largest undeveloped copper deposits in southeast Asia.

According to the company, the upgraded measured, indicated and inferred resource now totals 2.2 billion mt at a grade of 0.6% copper and 0.2 g/t gold and contains 12.8 million mt of copper and 15.2 million oz of gold using a 0.3% copper cut-off grade. The mineral resource, which includes 24,700 m of drilling conducted in 2007, also includes estimated average grades for molybdenum of 70 parts per million (ppm).


This is the first resource estimate published by Xstrata Copper since it assumed management control of Tampakan in March 2007 through its Philippines-based affiliate Sagittarius Mines, Inc. The previous mineral resource estimate of 2 billion mt at 0.6% copper, using the same cut-off grade, was published in April 2006.

Xstrata Copper Executive General Manager–Project Development Peter Forrestal said the Tampakan deposit represents the largest development project in Xstrata Copper’s portfolio.

“We continue to look for growth opportunities through improvements at existing operations, acquisitions and the development of our strong project pipeline. The promising mineral resource estimate at Tampakan indicates the project has excellent potential to make a substantial contribution to Xstrata Copper’s growth profile,” said Forrestal, who is also president of Sagittarius Mines. “Our current focus is on feasibility-related studies, which we aim to complete in the second half of 2009, and on advancing our sustainable development programs with local communities.”

In a related development, Bloomberg reported on January 10 that Philippine police and troops plan step up security at Tampakan after a New Year's day attack on the site by rebels. The project in South Cotabato province was attacked by members of the New People's Army, a rebel group waging a war against the government for almost four decades to convert the Philippines into a communist state. The rebels torched an office building and six smaller structures, including the living quarters of employees and contractors engaged in drilling, causing $280,000 of damage, Sagittarius Mines reported on January 3.

Natural Resources Secretary Lito Atienza Atienza ordered staff at the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to work with mining companies to help prevent further attacks by rebels. Military, police, government officials and leaders of the Chamber of Mines were planning to meet in January to discuss boosting security at mines, he said.

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