Australian mining firm Indophil Resources NL is most certain that a Philippine-based partner for their world-class mining reserve project is the way to go.

To finally get the mining project off the ground, which should deal with social, environmental, cultural acceptability in that Philippines, the entry of conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC) will be an advantage to shareholders.

"A possible takeover of San Miguel Corp. of this project would greatly compliment the expertise of XStrata Plc.," Mr. Gavan Collery, Indophil Resources corporate affairs manager told the IBTimes-Australia.

He added that SMC is a very respectable and well-funded company in Southeast Asia that has been around for more than a century. SMC has varied investments in food manufacturing, beverage, banking, and most recently in energy-related and mining projects.

San Miguel Corp. will conduct a due diligence on Indophil and its mining projects in the Philippines.

San Miguel also disclosed in the Manila stock exchange where it is listed that it has agreed to a share placement option worth 86 Australian cents each for new Indophil shares issued by the company.

"San Miguel has a control proposal option, which they can undertake within the given period, which is until January 2010," noted Mr. Collery.

Indophil is being advised by Gresham Advisory Partners Ltd., Baker & McKenzie and Freehills. San Miguel is being advised by Bank of America-Merrill Lynch and Blake Dawson.

Tampakan copper-gold reserves

In a previous report, Indophil has committed to continue developing its Tampakan copper-gold project in the Philippines.

The Tampakan Copper-Gold Project (Tampakan Project) is located approximately 50km north of General Santos City , a major growth centre on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao.

Data from the company indicated and inferred resource estimate, of 2.4 billion tonnes at 0.6% copper and 0.2 g/t gold at a 0.3% copper cut-off grade, carried out under JORC reporting guidelines, the Tampakan deposit represents the largest undeveloped copper-gold deposit in the South East Asia - Western Pacific Region.