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THE
Court of Appeals (CA) has issued a restraining order (TRO)
for two months versus a ruling that banned listed
Oriental Peninsula Resources Group from operating its
mine in Sofronio, Española in
Palawan.
The TRO
allows the continuation of roadwork and construction of
pier in the company’s Palawan site which are crucial for
its mining operations.
The CA
order effectively prevented the Palawan Regional Trial
Court (RTC) from implementing the preliminary
prohibitory injunction order against Oriental Peninsula,
whose shares are traded on the Philippine Stock Exchange
(PSE).
Last
January, the Palawan RTC issued a ruling in response to
a complaint filed by the Provincial Mining & Regulatory
Board—alleging that Citinickel Mines & Development Corp.
and its parent firm Oriental Peninsula engaged in quarry
and construction activities without the necessary
permits.
“The
court finds that there is a need to maintain the status
quo. The purpose of the TRO or preliminary injunction,
whether preventive or mandatory, is merely to prevent a
threatened wrong and to protect the property or rights
involved from further injury, until the issues can be
determined after the hearing on the merits” said the CA
in its ruling dated March 5, 2008.
It
added, “the status quo is the situation of the parties
at the time of the filing of the original complain or of
the petition in the court a quo.”
A
hearing on the application for a writ of preliminary
injunction is set for March 25.
Meanwhile, Oriental Peninsula maintained the
only activity to which Citinickel is engaged in at its
site is the back filing of land to assist the residents
therein whose residential land has eroded due to the
recent typhoon.
“The
back-filling activity was taken up by Citinickel upon
the request of the said barangay through a resolution of
the Sangguniang barangay of Punang,” the company said.
Citinickel is owned by the family of businesswoman
Caroline Tanchay, who is also the chairman and president
of Oriental Peninsula. The company owns two
nickel-mining projects in southern
Palawan, namely Toronto
Mine and Pulot Mine, which are both covered by an
approved mineral production-sharing agreement (MPSA)
with the government.
The MPSA
gives Citinickel the exclusive right to look for nickel
within the contract area for 25 years from January 3,
2007.
Oriental
Peninsula
listed its shares on the PSE last December 19.
Earlier,
it disclosed plans of putting up a $300-million smelting
plant in the next three years either on its own or with
a foreign company as a joint venture partner.
Tanchay
said once the facility is in place, the company will no
longer have to export the nickel ore to smelters abroad
as they will be able to produce pure nickel which is
selling at 26,000-28,000 per ton.
“That’s
our ultimate goal,” she said, adding that they have
already received offers from smelting operators in
India, China and Australia for a potential partnership.
Smelting
is a process to melt metal for the purpose of separating
its components.
By the
first half of 2008, Oriental Peninsula expects its Pulot
Mine to start producing 600,000 tons of nickel, which it
plans to ship to China, Australia and Japan.
“Our
target is to become a large-scale nickel-ore producer by
2008 and also consolidate and bring into
Oriental
Peninsula’s
fold more mining tenements that would add value to the
company,” Tanchay said.
Oriental
Peninsula
raised gross proceeds of P804 million from the sale of
300 million new shares to the over 2,000 investors. The
fresh capital will help fund acquisition of capital
equipment and machineries, pre-operating capital and
infrastructure development. |
