Celsius Resources Ltd (ASX:CLA) has signed an agreement with Sodor Inc. and the PMR Group outlining the terms on which the company proposes to secure a local partner for development of the Maalinao-Caigutan-Biyog (MCB) Copper-Gold Project in the Philippines.
This non-binding term sheet has been signed by the company's wholly-owned Philippine subsidiaries, Makilala Mining Company, Inc. (MMCI) and PDEP, Inc.
This partnership undertaking satisfies the requirement for securing a mineral production sharing agreement (MPSA) with the Philippine Government in order to build and operate the MCB Project.
Subject to the execution of a binding agreement, up to US$43 million is to be received by Celsius which the parties agree to apply towards financing the MCB Project.
“Successful track record”
Celsius chairman and MMCI chairman and president Atty Julito R Sarmiento said: “We are very pleased to engage Sodor Inc and the PMR Holding Corp as our local partners for the development of the MCB Project.
“We are excited by the combined investment proposed by Sodor Inc and PMR as both are strongly positioned to leverage a proven successful track record of profitability, operational efficiency, developing a world-class workforce, and commitment to Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) principles in the energy industry into the successful development of MCB Project and the renaissance of our country’s mining industry.”
Multi-pronged clean and green strategy
Through its investment in the MCB Copper-Gold Project, Sodor Inc and PMR intend to apply a multi-pronged clean and green strategy to MMCI’s and PDEP’s operations enabling it to brand its products as green copper, besides substantially reducing its electricity costs, one of its biggest operating expenses.
In turn, Sodor Inc and PMR will benefit from being able to diversify their investments not just in the energy industry but also in the mineral industry given the expected exponential growth in demand for copper products for electric vehicles, green technologies and renewable energy systems in the green economy.
PMR president Dr Daniel E Chalmers said: “While I was born in the United States, my Baptist missionary parents brought me to the Philippines as a young boy where I grew up in Masbate, one of its remote and poorest island provinces and went through its public schools for my basic education.
“Despite Masbate being described by geologists as a province sitting in a ‘pot of gold’ and hosting highly profitable mining companies for several decades, I had personally witnessed how the mining-affected communities have remained poor and neglected.
“As a Pastor, I have visited the Balatoc tribe in Kalinga in 1997 and saw the same poverty and inequity despite its richness in copper-gold deposits.
“I love the Philippines and would wish to make the MCB Copper-Gold Project be in the hands of a Filipino corporation as a model of transformative mining to help give justice to the Balatoc tribe, uplift their socioeconomic conditions, while respecting their indigenous culture and preserving the environment, and ensure that the mining business brings shared prosperity to both shareholders and stakeholders alike.”