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COPPER-CONCENTRATE output from the
Philippines,
where Xstrata Plc. is developing a $2-billion
copper-gold mine, may jump 34 percent this year and more
than double by 2009, according to a government forecast.
Output
may rise to 30,739 metric tons in 2008 from 22,862 a
year earlier, according to a copy of a government
forecast provided to Bloomberg Wednesday by Environment
Secretary Lito Atienza.
Atienza
was interviewed by Bloomberg in Singapore, where he is
attending the Asian mining conference.
Output
in 2009 may be 75,333 tons, according to the forecast.
“The
Philippines is located near the four biggest consumers
of metals led by China and India,” Atienza said in an
interview with Bloomberg Television. OceanaGold Corp.,
based in Melbourne, is among overseas companies boosting
copper output.
The
Southeast Asian nation is competing with neighbor
Indonesia to try and attract more than $10 billion in
investment in 24 priority mines through 2011 to benefit
from rising prices.
The
Philippines also has reserves of nickel and gold.
“At the
rate metals demand is rising, we are confident that the
Philippines will be very attractive” to investors,
Atienza said. “We’re attracting a lot of interest.”
Investments in mining may expand to $1.85 billion next
year from a forecast $892 million this year as Xstrata
starts developing the Tampakan mine in the southern
Philippines, according to the forecast.
Copper
concentrates produced in the Philippines contain at
least 25 percent of the metal, Mines and Geosciences
Bureau Director Horacio Ramos said in an interview in
Singapore. |
