Kingking Copper-Gold Project in Davao de Oro, Philippines, is being developed by Canadian-listed mining company St. Augustine Gold and Copper.
The project is listed as one of the top priority mining projects by the Philippine Mines and Geosciences Bureau.
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The company published the results of the updated Preliminary Feasibility Study (PFS) for the Kingking Copper-Gold Project in July 2025.
The study, which follows 2013 PFS Technical Report, estimates payable copper and gold production of 4.4 billion pounds (2 million tonnes) and 6.9 million ounces (214,000 kg) over a 38-Year Mine/Process Life.
In the first five years, production is expected to average around 284 million pounds of payable copper in cathode and concentrate and 333,000 ounces of payable gold in concentrate and doré metal.
The initial capital estimate is set at $2.37bn. The revised PFS enables the company to commence work on the Definitive Feasibility Study and accelerate the beginning of construction.
Background
Nationwide Development Corporation (Nadecor), a state-owned entity, identified the Kingking mineralisation anomaly between 1966 and 1968.
From 1969 to 1997, the deposit underwent exploration by Mitsubishi Corporation, Benguet Corporation, and Echo Bay Mining.
In 2009, Russell Mining and Minerals (RMMI) signed a letter of intent with Nadecor to develop the Kingking Copper-Gold Project. A year later, RMMI, Nadecor, and Benguet reached an agreement, with Benguet transferring its operational rights to RMMI for the project.
RMMI assigned its interest in Kingking to Ratel Gold Limited in 2011. Following a reverse takeover, RMMI assumed management and rebranded as St. Augustine Gold and Copper. The company submitted an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and Declaration of Mine Project Feasibility (DMPF) to the Philippine Government in 2012. The Environmental Compliance Certificate was approved in February 2015, and the DMPF received approval in January 2016.
The Mineral Processing Permit (MPP) lapsed due to regulatory challenges, including a now-lifted open pit mining ban and Covid-19-related disruptions. The company is now working to renew the MPP.
In May 2025, St. Augustine and Nadecor restructured their ownership interests in the Kingking Copper-Gold Project. St. Augustine acquired all shares of Nadecor’s subsidiary, Kingking Milling Corporation, which holds the development rights.
Exploration and development permits are held by Kingking Mining Corporation, owned 40% by St. Augustine, 40% by Nadecor, and 20% by Queensberry Mining and Development.
Kingking Project Location
The Kingking Project is situated in the Philippines on Mindanao island, within the Municipality of Pantukan in the Province of Davao de Oro.
The site is located on the eastern side of the Gulf of Davao, approximately 92km from Davao City via paved road. The proposed mine site is about 10km from the coast, near the Kingking River.
Geology and Mineralisation
The Kingking deposit is a porphyry copper-gold deposit predominantly hosted by porphyritic hornblende diorites, submarine volcanic rocks, and volcanoclastic sediments. The intrusive rocks are estimated to be from the Miocene period, while the volcanic wall rocks date from the Cretaceous to early Tertiary periods.
Copper and gold mineralisation occurs at or near the apex of the diorite intrusive complex and extends into the surrounding wall rocks.
The sulphide copper mineralisation in the Kingking deposit mainly consists of chalcopyrite and bornite, with smaller amounts of chalcocite, digenite, and covellite. The rapid regional uplift and erosion have likely led to the near-complete removal of a classical leached cap and prevented the development of thick oxide and supergene enriched zones typical in other major porphyry deposits.
In the oxide zone, copper mineralisation is found in silicates and phosphates, with copper silicates being the most abundant. Copper silicate minerals containing MgO and FeO are the most common in this zone.
Gold is relatively abundant in the oxide zone, found in free form, previously associated with oxidised copper and iron sulphides. In the sulphide zone, gold appears in free form closely associated with bornite and as intergrowths in other sulphides, particularly pyrite and chalcopyrite.
Occasionally, native gold is observed on fractures and in quartz veinlets.
Overall, the Kingking gold-copper deposit aligns with other bulk-tonnage copper-gold porphyry deposits in the Philippines and globally. The deposit is characterised by low pyrite content, which is reflected in the lack of a pyrite halo typically found around many porphyry copper deposits.
Kingking Project Reserves
Kingking Project reserves are estimated to be around 960 million tonnes.
This includes proven and probable milling reserves of 849 million tonnes at a grading of 0.26% copper and 0.36 g/t gold, and 111 million tonnes of proven and probable leaching reserves grading 0.23% copper.
Mining and Recovery
The PFS for the Kingking Project outlines a base case ore delivery rate of 100,000 tonnes per day, with 40,000 tonnes directed to an on-off heap leach and 60,000 tonnes to a mill. The plan includes 31 years of mining, followed by seven years of processing stockpiled ore.
The mine schedule consists of six development phases optimised for metal production at the mill while maintaining a low waste-to-ore ratio in the initial years.
The Kingking mine will operate as a conventional open pit mine. Operations will involve drilling large diameter blast holes, blasting with explosive slurries or ammonium nitrate/fuel oil (ANFO), and transporting ore using large off-road trucks with cable shovels and wheel loaders. Ore will be delivered to the primary crusher, while valueless rock will go to the Valueless Rock Management Area (VRMA) facilities.
Marginal ore will be stored in low-grade stockpile facilities for processing at the end of commercial pit operations. A fleet of equipment, including dozers, motor graders, and water trucks, will maintain the working areas.
The open pit mine and processing plant aim to produce copper/gold concentrate, copper cathode, and gold doré bullion. Ore will be transported from the primary crusher to the mill and heap leach area via aerial conveyor.
Higher-grade oxide dominant ore and all sulphide ore will be processed in a concentrator at 60,000 tonnes per day. The concentrator will include crushing, grinding, gravity concentration of free gold, and flotation of sulphide copper and gold to concentrate.
An agitated leach circuit will extract oxide copper from mill flotation tails.
Oxide ore with minimal or no gold will be processed in a heap leach at 40,000 tonnes per day using on-off cells.
Pregnant solutions from both mill and heap leach processes will be treated in a common SX-EW facility to produce cathode copper.
Expected milling copper recoveries are 85%, achieved through solvent extraction and electrowinning (23%) and froth flotation (62%). Gold recovery is anticipated at 72% through intensive leaching of gravity concentrate (20%) and froth flotation (52%). Heap leaching is expected to achieve a 79% copper recovery via SX-EW.
A dry stack tailing facility, designed for wet environments, is proposed for managing tailings from the process plant.
Contractors Involved
M3 Engineering and Technology Corporation in prepared the Preliminary Feasibility Study for the copper-gold project.
Several personnel from other entities such as Fort Lowell Consulting, Independent Mining Consultants (IMC), Resource Evaluation Inc. (REI) and ESG Resiliency Plus, also supported.
