The government of the Philippines stands to gain as much as $13 billion from the proposed copper-and-gold mine project to be constructed by Xstrata-owned Sagittarius Mines Inc. (SMI) in the southern part of the country, the BusinessMirror newspaper reported on Tuesday.

The Tampakan copper-and-gold mine project, located in South Cotabato, Mindanao, holds an estimated total mineral resource of 2.94 billion tonnes, of which copper is placed at 15 million tonnes while gold is at 17.9 million ounces. It is touted as the largest copper-gold deposit yet to be developed in South East Asia.

The newspaper, based on a presentation, quoted SMI as sayng the Philippine government will receive 30 per cent of the company's net earnings in a profit-based sharing scheme that is spread over the project's expected lifespan, which is 20 years. It will also get 15 per cent more from the company's dividends.

In monetary terms, the Philippine government will earn $2.771 billion based on the profit share and another $1.791 billion from the dividends.

The government is also poised to take in another 25 per cent share in the profit, computed on actual production output, the newspaper reported.

The scheme, according to SMI, takes effect immediately after the end of the five-year recovery period.

Over 20 years, based on estimates, the Philippine government would net $105 million in terms of value added tax and $221 million in customs duties. The local government unit will also receive $734 million, depending on where the active mining area and its processing facilities are located.

Commercial operation of the Tampakan copper-and-gold mine project is expected to go online in 2016. But SMI, a unit of Xstrata Copper, faces a ban in open pit mining as set by the South Cotabato Environment Code. It has also been trying to secure an environmental compliance certificate for the Tampakan project.

Further delays to the project would most likely also delay the projected contribution of the Tampakan copper and gold mine to the country's gross domestic product, which SMI estimated at 1 per cent over its 20 years of operation, the newspaper reported.