A CHINESE firm has taken an interest in the undeveloped mineral properties of Vulcan Industrial and Mining Corp., a listed aggregates miner led by the group of businessman Alfredo Ramos.

In a filing to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Tuesday, Vulcan signed a memorandum of understanding with China Trend to allow the latter to review and study existing mineral exploration projects within the next 60 days.

The agreement could result in a two-year memorandum of agreement between Vulcan and China Trend, which will choose projects that it will develop into a mine.

Vulcan said it will be paid $1 million if a memorandum of agreement will be signed alongside advances against royalties of up to P500 million to be paid through the two-year period.

At present, Vulcan derives its revenues from selling aggregates, or raw construction materials like sand, gravel of crushed stone, from the Montalban Aggregates project in Rizal province. The company also has several mineral properties in various stages of exploration.

These include the Marian gold project   covering 6,325 hectares and the Isabela Dimakawal copper-gold project covering 2,385.5 hectares, both located in Isabela province in Luzon. Its Negros copper projects cover almost 1,300 hectares in Negros Occidental while the Malimono gold project covers 358.68 hectares in Surigao del Norte.

Other sites include the Leyte Punut-an gold project, Zambales Gabbro project and Comet Nickel-Chromite project in Dinagat province.  

Vulcan said the contract was signed with China Trend during the recent state visit of President Aquino in Beijing last week. Vulcan is eyeing a slice of the $1 billion that China Trend has pledged for mining in the Philippines.

The company reported earlier that revenues in the six months to June hit P147.42 million, more than double the P68.92 million it booked in the same period last year. Net income hit P78.21 million in the six-month period, reversing a P4.42 million net loss.

Vulcan shares did not move at P0.77 each on Tuesday’s close.