Friday, November 14, 2008 Higher quality gold, silver deposits found in SC town
HIGHER quality gold and silver deposits have been uncovered at a mining area in T'boli, South Cotabato, a Canadian mining exploration company said.
Cadan Resources Corp., which operates the Tboli gold-silver project through Philippine affiliate Tribal Mining Corp., announced recently that a new underground vein sampling possibly contain resources of 584,000 tons at 10.2 grams per ton gold and 50 grams per ton silver.
In September, the mine area's inferred mineral resources stand at 420,000 ounces of gold and 1.6 million ounces of silver. It pegged the grade at 5.5 grams per ton gold and 21 grams per ton silver.
"The latest higher grade results continue to indicate that the T'boli gold-silver resource not only appears to be larger in area but also the grade appears to be higher than that of the NI 43-101," said Edgar D. Martinez, Tribal Mining president, referring to the September resource estimate.
In a statement, he noted that within this 400-meter strike length, "there has been no drilling but only minimal surface exploration activity."
However, results of previous assays on the eastern side of the resource ranged from 13.37 g/t gold to a high of 81.14 g/t gold, Martinez added.
Tribal Mining was given approval by the Philippine government to continue its exploration activities last September 9 for potential development of the T'boli gold-silver project.
Cadan, previously known as Sur American Gold Corp., began underground development of the T'boli gold-silver deposits sometime later to determine higher quantity and quality of the mineral resources in the area.
The company's mine development site straddles an area earlier contested by a native clan and a local cooperative.
The Maguan clan has sought clearance to mine the area of the T'boli Minahang Bayan Multi-Purpose Cooperative, which the clan contended forms part of their ancestral domain claim.
Consisting of small-scale mining operators, the cooperative had earlier asked a local court that 21 hectares of gold-rich portion of Barangay Kematu in T'boli town be appropriated for their exclusive use.
The parcel of land, however, forms part of the 85-hectare mining area granted by the government to Tribal Mining under Mineral Production Sharing Agreement number 090-97-XI.
Constancio A. Paye Jr., Mines and Geosciences Bureau regional director, said the dispute between the cooperative and Tribal Mining is separate from the claims of the Maguan clan.
During the term of then South Cotabato governor Hilario de Pedro III, he issued an executive order apportioning the 21 hectares as "minahang bayan" or "people's mining site" to address the row between the cooperative and Tribal Mining.
Paye said that an estimated 20 to 30 tunnels had been developed by cooperative members at the "minahang bayan" site over the years. (BSS)
