Philippines explorer Indophil Resources (ASX: IRN) delivered some powerful news today to investors.
The Tampakan Copper-Gold Project in the southern Philippines had been given the formal green light by major investor Xstrata Plc (LSE:XTA) to move to Final Feasibility Study.
Indophil has signalled it will sell its 34.23% stake in the copper-gold Tampakan project. A number of interested parties has signed confidentiality agreements to enter its data room.
A spokesman for Indophil said, "the interested parties are the tier-one corporates and the tier-one sovereign wealth funds. You're looking at the big end of town."
The Feasibility Study targets an initial 20-year mine life at an average annual production of 340,000 metric tons of copper and 350,000 troy ounces of gold, with a cash cost estimate of less than 46 U.S. cents a pound after gold credits.
Given the low cash costs and long life of the copper project, the interest in Indophil's stake is expected to be very high.
Based on the current schedule, the feasibility study is expected to be submitted to the government by the second quarter of 2010, Sagittarius said in a statement.