Posted on December 3, 2015
NEW YORK and MANILA, Philippines, Nov. 30, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — PHI Group, Inc. (PinkSheets:PHIL), a U.S. public company engaged in energy and natural resources, announced today that the Company has signed a Joint Venture Agreement with Manila-based Spartan Mining and Development Corporation (“SMDC”), to form PHI Spartan Resources, Inc., a new Philippine entity to be equally owned by both companies.
The new company will initially focus on the dredging of lahar sand deposits from Sto. Tomas, Maloma and Bucao Rivers in Zambales Province, Philippines in order to restore navigability of these rivers.
The extracted sand will be processed and exported for construction and reclamation projects in Asia.
PHI Group is committed to providing an initial $10 million, with up to $50 million in total, to the joint venture company to implement the dredging activities and to set up and operate the mineral processing plants. The total volume of sand to be dredged is estimated at 1.4 billion metric tonnes. The lahar sand was created in 1991 by the Mount Pinatubo volcanic eruption. The projected economic value of the extracted sand, which contains black sand, washed sand and other minerals, could be worth more than $14 billion.
Both companies also intend to cooperate to further develop affordable housing, engineering and construction, steel and power generation projects in Zambales Province after the dredging work has begun. One of SMDC’s social priorities is to provide affordable housing, economic infrastructure and employment opportunities to help relocate more than half a million families of informal settlers from Metro Manila.
Luis Ramos, Chairman and CEO of Spartan Mining and Development Corporation, said, “We are very pleased to sign the joint venture agreement to formalize our relationship with PHI Group. We look forward to a long-term mutually rewarding association that can potentially benefit both companies as well as the general welfare of our Filipino people in ways not previously possible.”
Henry Fahman, PHI Group’s Chairman and CEO, concurred: “We are very excited to share a common philosophy and vision with SMDC’s leadership and jointly embark on this historic endeavor. We strongly believe this will bring enormous economic value for shareholders of both companies and enduring social benefits for the local Filipino communities.”
About Spartan Mining and Development Corporation
Spartan Mining and Development Corporation, registered with the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission in May 2011, is the claimant of and has certain interest in mineral deposits located at Sto. Tomas River, Maloma River and Bucao River in Zambales Province, the Philippines. The mineral areas cover approximately 47,000 hectares. The company has applied to the Philippine Department of Public Works and Highways for permits to dredge, extract, process and export lahar sand from these rivers.
About PHI Group, Inc.
PHI Group, Inc. (website: www.phiglobal.com), a U.S. publicly traded company established in 1982 (PinkSheets:PHIL), has a double-tracked strategy to address the needs of conventional energy and renewables and to make investments in mineral and natural resources. The Company’s activities include wood pellet projects in North America, reclamation and construction sand from Vietnam and the Philippines for both land extensions and building in Asian countries, coal asset development in Indonesia, oleochemicals in Malaysia, a LPG terminal project in Vietnam, titanium business in Vietnam and a nickel project in Laos. In addition, the Company also provides M&A advisory and consulting services through its wholly owned subsidiary PHI Capital Holdings, Inc. (www.phicapitalholdings.com)
