Foreign mining companies are increasingly attracted to the high potential of the gold deposits of the 8,100-hectare gold-rush area of Mt. Diwalwal in Davao del Norte, according to a high ranking official of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) in the Region XI.

MGB-Region XI Director Edilberto Arreza said Chinese investors behind ZTE International, RT Mineral Resources, Inc., CITIC-UAAP Investment Corporation, and South African investor Harmony Gold Mines recently visited the area and signified their interest to invest there.

Natural Resources and Mining Development Corporation (NRMDC) president Artemio Disini said the area is now up for bidding to interested mining investors.

Disini said that NRMDC is expected to operate in the area two years from now after the corporation has raised funds through commercial borrowing.

Under the Supreme Court’s ruling, NRMDC is allowed either to solely operate the area or in partnership with foreign or local mining investors.

Disini said his technical men are now conducting a feasibility study in Mt. Diwalwal to determine the current exact volume of gold deposits still remaining below the 600 level.

NRMDC is looking at the gold deposits at the Buenas-Tinago and Balite veins, and the gold and copper prospects at the Upper Ulip/Matangad, Mabatas/Higanteng Bato, Pagasa/Paraiso, Simulao and Mapaso/Letter V/Bermuda areas, all in Mt. Diwalwal.

NRMDC is the corporate arm of the DENR that manages Mt. Diwalwal. It is the mining permit holder of the gold-rich mountain.

“We are relying now on what is left below the 600-level, because gold deposits at the 600- and above-level is also already exhausted due to the small-scale miners’ operation,” Disini said.

Arreza said some 21 small-scale mining cooperatives operating in the area led by barangay captain Franco Tito, however, opposed the idea of allowing foreign investors to operate in the area.

Tito said the government should instead give the small-scale miners preferential right to develop the area over their foreign counterparts since they have been operating in the area for a long time.

Disini said NRMDC is now conducting dialogues with the small-scale miners, which number about 40,000. He said that the NRMDC is trying to find out how the small-scale miners can be given preference in the jobs that will be available once large-scale mining starts to operate in the area. (DENR Public Affairs Office)

October 6, 2006