Philex Mining Corp. said Monday the on-going drilling at the Bumolo porphyry copper-gold deposit near Padcal mine in Benguet province produced encouraging results.
Philex said in a disclosure to the stock exchange the maiden inferred mineral resources for Bumolo were estimated to be 21.7 million tons at 0.2 percent copper and 0.3 grams per ton gold.
The Bumolo porphyry copper-gold deposit is located in the Baguio mineral district and is only 1.5 kilometers east of the Sto. Tomas II deposit of the Padcal mine of Philex.
The Bumolo deposit lies within the mineral production sharing agreement 156-2000-CAR of Philex.
Philex said the inferred mineral resources represented the first phase of the on-going resource definition drilling program to advance the project and provide additional ore to Padcal mine.
“Philex is pleased to announce the results of the company’s on-going near mine exploration to assess the possibilities of further extending the life of the Padcal mine,” said Philex Mining president and chief executive Eulalio Austin Jr.
“The maiden inferred resource estimate for the Bumolo project confirms the potential we have been progressing with over the past year. This resource result exceeds our expectations and we further look forward to the next two years of exploration around the Padcal mine,” Austin said.
The company’s Padcal mine has been in active operation for the past 58 years and has produced over 378 million tons of ore.
Philex announced last year it had identified additional ore reserves that would extend Padcal’s mine life by two years from 2020 to 2022.
The mining company said an engineering study conducted on the mineral resource estimates from the 800 to 600 meter level had identified an additional 20 million tons of ore reserves.
