MANILA, June 29 - The outgoing governor of a southern Philippine province on Tuesday approved a ban on open-pit mining in the area, a risk for the $5.2 billion Tampakan copper-gold project majority owned by global miner Xstrata Plc due to start production in 2016.
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"I've signed it and it takes effect after publication," Daisy Avance-Fuentes, who steps down as governor of South Cotabato on Wednesday, said of an environment code proposed by the local legislative assembly that bans open-pit mining.
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The new governor, Arthur Pinggoy, has said he would review the ban because it could be in conflict with a national law aimed at drawing in billions of dollars in foreign investment into the Philippines' mining sector, one of the world's largest and most lucrative in the early 1970s.
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"We remain concerned regarding the code's potential impact on the Tampakan project and will continue to monitor this issue closely and consider our available options," Mark Williams, general manager of Xstrata Copper affiliate Sagittarius Mines Inc, said in a statement.
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Estimated to contain 13.5 million tonnes of copper and 15.8 million ounces of gold at a 0.3 percent cut-off grade, Tampakan is considered Southeast Asia's largest undeveloped copper-gold prospect.
