It is reported that for further expand its power generation business, diversifying conglomerate San Miguel Corp has acquired three coal mines in Mindanao with resources capable of generating an initial 1,200 megawatts.
Mr Ramon S Ang president of San Miguel said that aside from the Daguma Agro Minerals Inc which it bought early this year the company has also acquired Bonanza Energy Resources Inc and Sultan Energy Mining and Energy Development Corp.
He said that the aggressive acquisition of coal mines is meant to further ramp up the generating capacities of its planned coal power plants in Mindanao which has been experiencing a shortage in power supply since the beginning of 2010.
Mr Ramon however declined to disclose the amount that San Miguel had paid to acquire the three companies, which have been holding service contracts over several coal blocks within adjacent areas in Mindanao. He said that the company is still looking at other opportunities and prospective coal sites within adjacent areas.
Mr Ang said “We’re in the process of consolidating all the coal mines in the area so that we will be able to know the exact deposit of these coal deposits. Once we know the volume, we will put up a mine mouth.”
He revealed earlier that San Miguel plans to put up a 300 MW minemouth coal power plant in General Santos following its acquisition of Daguma coal mine. A 300-MW coal facility would need about 750,000 tonnes of coal a year.
He said that “Within this year, we plan to start the project. That’s a greenfield facility so it will take about only 24 months to construct. We’re still conducting the study for that. He added that the former Daguma Agro coal mine appeared to have very good potential after it was reported that the coal reserves at the site were estimated at about 800 million tons.”
Although he did not reveal San Miguel planned investment in the facility, Mr Ang had said the conglomerate would invest as much as USD 1 million to produce one megawatt from coal resources. This meant that for the initial 300 MW project, San Miguel would need to invest some USD 300 million or about P13.5 billion.
(Sourced from http://business.inquirer.net)
