STATE-firm Philippine Export-Import Credit Agency (PhilEXIM) has agreed to guarantee the $100-million loan of Carmen Copper Corp. (CCC).

Virgilio R. Angelo, PhilEXIM president and chief executive officer, said his agency agreed to give sovereign guarantee to the loan after finding strong potential in the copper mining project where CCC will be using the $100 million.

CCC is a unit of publicly listed Atlas Consolidated Mining and Development Corp. 

The Toledo mining site can yield an annual average of 47,000 tons of copper in concentrate, 41,000 ounces of gold, 135,000 tons of pyrite concentrate and 419,000 tons of magnetite iron ore concentrate.

“PhilEXIM guaranteed the copper mining project of Carmen Copper Corp. (CCC) owing to the investment growth potential and job generation opportunities it will afford in the town of Toledo in Cebu province, and export promotion in general,” Angelo said in a statement.

Aside from this, Angelo said the mining project is included in the list of priority investment areas that the government is promoting.

The PhilEXIM guarantee, which carries the full faith and credit of the Republic of the Philippines, can become an investment catalyst for this priority industry alone, he said.

The agency can guarantee up to P150 billion in loans.

Angelo also thanked CCC creditors Deutsche Bank and the UniCapital Group for their continuing desire to collaborate with the government toward attaining sustainable public-private sector investment partnerships.

“The Carmen Copper project is a flagship mining project that could bring the Philippines to the radar screens of metal investors and metal buyers.

Thus, these financial players are also key components to this pursuit,” Angelo said.

He said the government’s assistance to the CCC project is a timely response to the Philippines’ hosting of the 7th Asia-Pacific Mining Conference from June 5 to 7.

According to the Asean Federation of Mining Association, the mining industry in the country should be revitalized, noting that the Philippines, together with Indonesia, Vietnam and Cambodia, are positioned to become mineral resource hubs in the East Asian region.

STATE-firm Philippine Export-Import Credit Agency (PhilEXIM) has agreed to guarantee the $100-million loan of Carmen Copper Corp. (CCC).

THE Social Security System (SSS) is eyeing to expand its membership by targeting the country’s 10 million overseas Filipino workers who are working in various parts of the world.

THE Department of Agriculture (DA) assured Thursday that the memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the Philippines and China on developing the country’s farm sector is constitutional and would not threaten food security.

THE stringent rules and regulation in the processing of mining permits are turning away prospective investors, thus preventing the Philippines from realizing the sector’s full potential.

THE International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) said biofuels production through the use of sweet sorghum as feedstock would not compromise food security in developing countries like the Philippines.

INDUSTRIES and households at the Subic Bay Freeport Zone will enjoy a 20-centavo per kilowatt-hour cut in their monthly bills owing to the reduction in system losses initiated by Aboitiz Power Corp.’s (APC) Subic Enerzone Corp. (SEZC).