OceanaGold soars on Philippine’s move to reopen Didipio

Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte has instructed the nation’s Department of Environment and Natural Resources to work with OceanaGold and the Department of Finance on a new Financial for Technical Assistance Agreement (FTAA), the company said.

OceanaGold kicked off the renewal of the 25-year permit in 2018. After it expired in June 2019 the company kept Didipio operating under a temporary license, but a blockade backed by the local government forced the Brisbane-based miner to suspend operations a few weeks later.

The FTAA’s renewal has been slowed down by the covid-19 pandemic, claims that Didipio had been operating outside the Indigenous Peoples’s Rights Act, and the Bugkalot tribe had been seeking to expand its domain over parts of the FTAA area.

Slow, steady progress
The mid-tier gold producer recently received a “certification of non-overlap”, which states the FTAA area is outside the ancestral domain of local indigenous communities.

OceanaGold said the document proves it has “strong endorsement of the residents in the local communities in and around the Didipio mine, including indigenous peoples.”

It is understood that around 75% of the mine’s 1,500- workforce has been permanently laid off since June 2019, with 900 let go between October and November.

OceanaGold warned earlier this year it could take up to 12 months to restart the mine from care and maintenance.

The company has overcome conflict with the Philippines government in the past, including a 2017 plan by former environment and natural resources secretary Regina Lopez to suspend several mining operations in the country.

Didipio, which began production in 2013, has measured and indicated resources of 1.3 million ounces of gold and 160,000 tonnes of copper.

Other than Didipio, OceanGold has three more mines — Haile in the United States, and Macraes and Waihi in New Zealand.

The miner’s shares closed at A$2.50 in Sydney on Monday and were trading 36% higher in Toronto on Monday at C$2.40 apiece, valuing it at C$1.68 billion ($1.32bn).