BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya, March 20 (PIA) – Another potential area for mineral exploration has been showing positive indications in barangay Didipio in Kasibu town, raising optimism to an Australian mining company Oceana Gold Philippines, Incorporated’s (OGPI) that their 15-year gold-copper mining project in this province will go beyond the initial contract.

Brennan Lang, Didipio project operations manager, in a briefing at the recent inauguration of their information center here said that through their aggressive mine exploration program, they have discovered another geochemical abnormalities near the Didipio mining site.

“We have a very aggressive exploration program and we will be here even beyond 15 years of our operation because we think there might be another Didipio, based on what we considered as indications,” Lang said saying further that $10 million is forecasted to be spent for exploration activities for 2013.

According to Lang, the growth engine of Nueva Vizcaya is mining in the next years to come and will become as one of the largest mine processing sites in the country.

The Didipio project in Kasibu town, Lang said only represents 0.2 percent of the total land area of Nueva Vizcaya which will however generate 42 percent of the Gross Domestic Product(GDP) of the province for 2013 alone.

“This is a very small piece of land with a major impact in our economy both in the national and local levels,” he said.

With half a billion dollars to be spent within the 15-year operation of the gold-copper mining project in Didipio, more than P84 million will be paid by OGPI to the provincial government yearly which will amount to $350 million to more than $400 million worth of taxes to be paid to the national government, provincial, municipal and barangay local government’s.