A SUBSIDIARY of listed holding firm Apollo Global Capital Inc. forged a mines consortium agreement for its offshore magnetite iron mining project in Gonzaga, Cagayan.
The listed firm said in a stock exchange disclosure on Tuesday that its subsidiary, JDVC Resources Corp., and Agbiag Mining and Development Corp. entered into an agreement with equipment procurement contractor, Pelletized Iron & Titanium Vanadium (Phils.) Corp. (PITV).
“JDVC has earlier constituted Agbiag as its mine contractor/operator under a mines operating, joint venture and mineral production sharing agreement (MPSA) dated September 2014, effectively assigning 1,897.0242 hectares of its Cagayan Province offshore area located in the municipality of Gonzaga for exploration, commercial extraction, processing and exportation by Agbiag,” the disclosure said.
Under the agreement, PITV was assigned 100 hectares out of the 1,897.0242-hectare area. It will deliver and manage siphon vessels and commercial extraction production platforms comprising of ship management, maintenance, and operation.
“PITV guarantees a minimum monthly volume production of 100,000 tons of export or high-grade magnetite iron sand,” the disclosure said.
For its part, Agbiag — as the mining contractor — will supervise, monitor, and collect royalties for JDVC.
Meanwhile, Apollo Global said the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA) recently approved the application of Agbiag for the establishment of an on-shore production platform for a magnetite iron ore upgrading plant, as applied by PITV.
“This will be the strategic production platform of PITV, where instead of putting the magnetic separators on board a vessel, it will be installed onshore, inside CEZA, in order to achieve an output that has higher export grade magnetite iron for higher export value, through the upgrading plant,” it said.
In a separate stock exchange disclosure, Apollo Global said PT. JDVC Resources Indonesia (PT. JRI) forged a memorandum of understanding on Sept. 27 with PITV and Indonesian firms PT. Yakin Citra Mandiri (PT. YCM) and PT. Sumber Rezeki Solusindo (PT. SRS).
Apollo Global said PT. JRI is a recently created Indonesian subsidiary of JDVC Resources Corp.
“The memorandum of understanding sets out the agreement of the parties for the establishment of an upgrading plant by PITV that will process raw iron ore from Indonesian mines and process it to export quality iron ore with 63% and above magnetic fraction, to be sold locally or exported to other countries,” the disclosure said.
“Eventually, a pelletizing plant will be established for forward integration in the supply chain, ultimately selling iron pellets to the steel smelter plants in Indonesia or in other countries,” it added.
Under the memorandum of understanding, PITV will allocate the fund for the upgrading plant project; and the operation and maintenance of the two plants.
PT. JRI will get the permits and licenses for iron ore mining and trading; and for the operation of the upgrading plant. It is also the one assigned to conduct mining, training, and trading for iron ore operations; and allocate the site for the operation of the two plants.
PT. YCM, which possesses the iron ore mine tenements in Kalimantan, Indonesia, will provide the allowed mining area and guarantee long-term iron ore supply for the plants.
Further, PT. SRS will arrange for consultancy services and corporate social responsibility services.
“PT. JRI was incorporated to expand Apollo Global’s business operation and to explore possibilities of complementary mining operations in Indonesia…,” the disclosure said.
“PT. JRI was incorporated with the Indonesian Ministry of Law and secured its deed of establishment on Sept. 17, 2021. It also obtained a business license from the Ministry of Investments of Indonesia, which enables it to engage in the three lines of businesses: great trade of metal ores, big trade of non-metal materials, and wholesale trade of solid, liquid and gas fuel and related products,” it added.
According to Apollo Global, PT. JRI will apply for special production operation mining business license for trading with the Indonesian Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources as a requirement prior to the start of mineral trading.
“Coupled with a memorandum of understanding with an Indonesian mine owner, this Special Production Operation Mining Business License for Trading will allow PT. JRI the right to mine in the mine area subject of the memorandum of understanding,” the disclosure said.
Apollo Global recently finished its follow-on offering, which raised P988 million from the sale of 12.35 billion shares at eight centavos per share. It also acquired a 49% stake in Singaporean firm Poet Blue Ocean Offshore Services Pte. Ltd. as part of augmenting the company revenue.
On Tuesday, shares of Apollo Global at the stock exchange rose 5.36% or P0.006 to end at P0.118 apiece. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave