PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Diversified major GlencoreXstrata was considering divesting its majority interest in the Tampakan copper/gold project, in the Philippines, joint venture (JV) partner Indophil Resources reported on Thursday.

The miner told shareholders in its quarterly report that there had been considerable uncertainty around the future ownership of the Tampakan project since April last year, as GlencoreXstrata faced a forced divestment of the project to conform to the Chinese government’s conditions for the merger between the two majors.

Indophil also said that GlencoreXstrata had advised the company of its preference to divest its take in Tampakan.

Indophil currently holds a strategic pre-emptive right over GlencoreXstrata’s interest, and has advised the major that its focus would be on restoring the project’s value.

“We will work with GlencoreXstrata to assist in meeting objectives for the project, and Indophil remains focused on doing what it can to ensure the project licence conditions are not compromised in the process,” said Indophil CEO and MD Richard Laufmann.

As a pre-emptive to the divestment, Indophil would sole-fund the work programmes at Tampakan, which include an environmental-impact study for the offset infrastructure.

In August last year, Indophil announced a reboot of the $5.9-billion Tampakan project, with the aim of securing government support on key bottleneck issues before proceeding to final valuation and possible development.

The revised work plan followed a project review, which investigated the issues and challenges facing the project, including the resolution of the South Cotabato openpit mining ban, the definition of the pathways to project approvals from all levels of government and the gaining of consent to resettle impacted communities.

Laufmann said on Thursday that an Inter-Agency Working Group has also been formed by the Philippine government to resolve the key issues and challenges facing the project, and it has met on several occasions since its formation.

The group has reported back to the Philippine government and has made a series of recommendations on the project, which would be relayed to the company.

The Tampakan project contains an estimated 2.94-billion tons of mineral resource, containing around 15-million tons of copper and around 18-million ounces of gold.