Agata Mining Ventures Inc. (AMVI), a subsidiary of TVI Resource Development Phils. Inc. (TVIRD), expects the issuance of an Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) in the first quarter of 2021 for its limestone project in Agusan del Norte.
“In February 2020, the application for the Environmental Compliance Certificate commenced,” TVIRD said. “Receipt of the ECC is expected in the first quarter of 2021.”
TVIRD is the Philippine affiliate of TVI Pacific Inc., a publicly-listed Canadian mining firm. TVIRD holds a 60 percent interest in AMVI, which commenced operations in 2014.
The Agata limestone project is in the same Mineral Processing Sharing Agreement (MPSA) area as AMVI’s nickel-iron project.
The Agata site is within a 4,995-hectare mining tenement located in the adjacent municipalities of Tubay, Jabonga and Santiago in Agusan del Norte province, Philippines.
At present, AMVI is continuing to evaluate the feasibility of commencing a limestone direct shipping ore (DSO) operation or producing hydrated lime and a higher value ground calcium carbonate product marketable to the paper and plastics industries in Asia.
Endorsements from host Local Government Units (LGU) have been received for the project and the balance of the permitting process is continuing and is expected to be completed in 10 to 12 months from the current date, TVIRD further said.
The target annual production rate throughout the life of mine is 2 million metric tons (MT).
Meanwhile, TVIRD said Agata has continued to ship nickel laterite uninterrupted through the COVID-19 pandemic.
As of October 31, 2020, AMVI has shipped a total of 2.6 million wet metric tons (WMT) of nickel laterite through 47 shipments.