MANILA: One of the Philippines’ wealthiest families plans to consolidate its mining assets, possibly to include the country’s largest gold and copper mine, under a single listed entity.
SM Investments Corp, owned by the family of late billionaire Henry Sy, will transfer its 34% stake in Atlas Consolidated Mining and Development Corp. to Dominion Holdings Inc. by next year, SM President and Chief Executive Officer Frederic DyBuncio said on Wednesday (Aug 12).
The Tampakan gold and copper mine, also majority owned by the family, can be infused into Dominion, creating what could be the Philippines’ largest listed miner, according to DyBuncio, who also heads Dominion.
Tampakan is poised to be the Philippines’ biggest mine when it starts production in 2028, later than a previous 2026 target. The mine in the southern Mindanao island is estimated to produce an average of 375,000 tonnes of copper and 360,000 ounces of gold in concentrate annually over a 17-year period. Development of the mine has been stalled for years after its discovery three decades ago, with Glencore Plc exiting in 2015 amid regulator concerns that included a ban on open-pit mining which was lifted in 2021.
Expectations that SM will merge its mining assets have catapulted Dominion, once a lightly-traded leasing company owned by SM’s BDO Unibank, to become this year’s best-performing Philippine stock. Shares of Dominion, which also counts the family of tycoon Isidro Consunji as shareholder, have surged 821%, dwarfing the Philippine benchmark stock index’s 5.2% gain.
The plan by the biggest Philippine conglomerate by market cap could also help jumpstart an industry that’s suffered from underexploration for decades. Opposition from local communities, environmentalists and a powerful Catholic Church have kept mining investors at bay, including in the huge Tampakan gold and copper mine.
Tampakan’s operations may start in two to three years, with roadworks already in progress, DyBuncio said. The company doesn’t need a foreign partner, he added. - Bloomberg
