{"id":314183,"date":"2026-04-06T09:10:46","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T03:40:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/?p=314183"},"modified":"2026-04-06T09:10:46","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T03:40:46","slug":"semirara-confident-it-might-probably-meet-requirements-for-contract-extension","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/2026\/04\/06\/semirara-confident-it-might-probably-meet-requirements-for-contract-extension\/","title":{"rendered":"Semirara confident it might probably meet requirements for contract extension"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"td-post-featured-image\">\n<figure><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">SEMIRARAMINING.COM<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">SEMIRARA MINING and Power Corp. (SMPC) said it&#8217;s confident it might probably submit a mining plan that meets Department of Energy (DoE) requirements to increase its coal operating contract on Semirara Island.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">\u201cIt\u2019s demanding. The primary time we went to the Semirara site, it failed \u2014 even the primary attempt before we got here in. Because once it reaches around 160 meters below sea level, water starts to enter and all the pieces begins to slip. In the event you don\u2019t know the way to prevent the water from coming in, you can not mine,\u201d SMPC Chairman Isidro A. Consunji said at a briefing in March.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\">He added that Semirara is exclusive, noting that few coal mines worldwide operate below sea level.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">\u201cAssuming the policy of the DoE is to attenuate disruption and optimize production, who\u2019s qualified? Who\u2019s got the track record to mine below sea level? No one within the country. Semirara\u2019s the one mine below sea level,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s2\">SMPC, which has held the coal operating contract for nearly 50 years, said latest operators would face technical and logistical challenges. These include a whole bunch of dump trucks, dozens of high-power water pumps, and specialized equipment resembling diaphragm partitions that stretch greater than 100 meters deep \u2014 far beyond standard systems.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\">\u201cThere are various challenges for any latest operator, even experienced ones. If the goal is to enhance the mine plan, it&#8217;s difficult to outperform an existing operator \u2014 whether it\u2019s Semirara, Atlas Mining, or others \u2014 since the one already operating has the advantage,\u201d Mr. Consunji said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\">The mine\u2019s contract expires in July 2027, however the DoE is offering the realm for bidding this yr, together with other confirmed mineable reserves.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\">The auction covers 18 coal blocks across about 18,000 hectares, including 10 blocks on Semirara Island in Caluya, Antique.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\">Bidders must submit documents by April 28, the identical day because the bid opening.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\">SMPC said uninterrupted coal production is critical, as Semirara supplies about 38% of the country\u2019s baseload power. Any disruption could raise electricity costs, increase inflation, and require coal imports, potentially affecting energy security and foreign exchange reserves.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s3\">The corporate said its mining plan is designed to take care of continuous operations, prevent seawater intrusion, and mitigate potential economic, social, and political impacts from production disruptions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">Meralco PowerGen Corp. has expressed interest in partnering with SMPC if it participates within the auction, while San Miguel Corp. has reportedly explored government-offered coal sites, including the Semirara area. \u2014 <b>Alexandria Grace C. Magno<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SEMIRARAMINING.COM SEMIRARA MINING and Power Corp. (SMPC) said it&#8217;s confident it might probably submit a mining plan that meets Department of Energy (DoE) requirements to increase its coal operating contract on Semirara Island. \u201cIt\u2019s demanding. The primary time we went to the Semirara site, it failed \u2014 even the primary attempt before we got here [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":314184,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[5070,8733,2903,3055,7044,21518],"class_list":["post-314183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-confident","tag-contract","tag-extension","tag-meet","tag-requirements","tag-semirara"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=314183"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314183\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":314186,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314183\/revisions\/314186"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/314184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=314183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=314183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=314183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}