LONDON (Alliance News) - Bluebird Merchant Ventures Ltd on Friday noted a significant movement in its share price, but said its Batangas gold project was not expected to be part of the Philippine government audit of all operating mines in the country, which has reportedly led to the suspension of several nickel mines.
Shares in the Philippine natural resource development company were down 28% at 2.70 pence on Friday.
Bluebird Merchant said the Philippine government has recently ordered an audit of all operating mines in the Philippines to ensure that the highest environmental standards are being applied, which has led to several nickel mines in the country being suspended according to local press reports.
The government has stated it expects to complete the audit of all the operating mines within the next three to four weeks, Bluebird Merchant said.
However, Bluebird Merchant said its Batangas gold project is not yet an operating mine and is not expected to be part of the current audit. The Batangas gold project is undergoing a permitting process in order to allow the project to enter the construction phase, following the completion of exploration, the company added, saying that whether the audit will be extended to further cover all projects is, at this stage unknown.
Elsewhere in the business, Bluebird Merchant trades copper concentrates and recently announced it has received payment from its first shipment which was sold to a Philippine smelter. The company said it is close to completing the building of an assay laboratory at the concentrating plant in order to substantially cut down the time between shipping concentrate to the smelter and receiving payment.
By Hannah Boland; hannahboland@alliancenews.com; @Hannaheboland
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Bluebird Mer (BMV)