Philex Now A Gold Mine

Philex Mining Corporation, the Philippines' largest mining company, is now more a gold mine than a copper mine, according to Dr. Walter W. Brown, Philex Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.

Since the price of gold has been testing US$1,000 per ounce recently, and copper prices have seen weak levels in the last few months as a result of the declining demand in the housing market and automobile sectors in the US and European community, the value of Philex concentrate shipments of golg and copper have reversed with the latest shipments now showing that gold accounts for 72% of the value of the concentrates while copper accounts for only 28%

Since the last quarter of 2008 up to today, the gold values in the concentrate shipments of Philex have consistently outstripped the copper values. This trend is expected to remain as the world recession continues to hit the entire developed world and has begun to spill over to the developing world. Gold, which has traditionally been regarded as a safe haven during turbulent economic times, has been testing new price highs while copper, which is very dependent on the housing and automobile markets have seen prices decline by more than half since its highs in 2008. Thus, Philex is a good natural hedge against base metal prices because gold prices are expected to stay up during this financial turmoil. As the financial turmoil subsides, gold prices are expected to soften while copper prices will firm us as the world recovers from recesssion, Brown pointed out.

Philex is currently drilling and developing only gold and copper deposits with gold values(in dollars per ton of ore) higher than the dollar value of the copper in the ore. Typically, these gold/copper projects take at least three years to develop.

Recently the Board of Philex Mining declared a stock dividend of 25% to be presented for shareholder's approval at the special meeting to be help on April 21, 2009.


Source: Philex Press Release dated Feb 25, 2009