That’s a copper-gold producer Philex Mining Corp. has earmarked about P1.5 billion in capital expenditure this year for current exploration activities and operations of its mine in Padcal in Tuba, Benguet.

Company chairman Walter Brown and vice-president for finance Renato Migriño said that P900 million of the total amount will be spent for the Padcal mine alone while about P625 million was allocated for drilling activities in Negros Occidental, Surigao, Zamboanga and in Madagascar.

“The capex will be funded through internal cash only,” said Migriño.

Migriño said the company was eyeing to produce at least nine million tons of copper concentrates this year or about 27,000 tons a day.

Brown meanwhile said he expects copper prices to remain “good” over the next two to three years, averaging between $6,000 and $8,000 per ton.

“We expect production and metal prices to remain relatively stable this year, with company income and revenues also close to present levels,” said Brown.

Philex Mining has a joint venture with Anglo American Exploration (Philippines) B.V. in the Boyongan copper project in Surigao. It also partnered with Canadian firm FEC Resources in the Lascogon gold project, through unit Philex Gold Philippines Inc.

In October last year, Philex Gold also inked an earn-in agreement with global mining firm PDEP Inc. covering its 6,594-hectare Sibutad project in Zamboanga del Norte.

PDEPI, a unit of Arizona-based Freeport McMoRan copper & Gold Inc., will spend an initial $2 million over a period of three years for the exploration, then another $2 million, to acquire a 40-percent stake in the project.

Also last year, Philex Mining decided to venture in oil and gas exploration by purchasing 200 million shares in FEC Resources for $5 million. FEC has a diverse portfolio of oil and gas properties in the Philippines and owns Forum Energy Plc.

In a special stockholders meeting Thursday, Philex Mining declared a 30-percent stock dividend, involving 913.96 million shares, to shareholders on record as of March 7, 2008. The dividend will be taken out of the company’s authorized but unissued shares.