Suspected Communist rebels attacked Xstrata Plc's $3 billion Tampakan mine in the Philippines, which may be Southeast Asia's largest untapped copper deposit, according to the military and project partner Indophil Resources NL. The group burned a drill rig and police are investigating, the Melbourne-based company said today in a statement to the Australian stock exchange. No one was injured in the assault, which took place around midnight on July 20, according to the statement, which did not identify the attackers. The rebels, probably from the New People's Army, ``tried to extort money from the owners of the mine, but they declined to pay the so-called revolutionary tax,'' Armand Rico, a military spokesman, said today by phone from Davao City. Insurgent attacks may undermine the Philippines' drive to develop the nation's mining industry to exploit gold, copper and nickel. Indophil, which also reported an attack on Jan. 1, is the subject of takeover bids from Xstrata Plc, which owns 62.5 percent of the mine, and a rival management group.

Tags: copper mining philippines risk security on 07-21-2008 -Cached -About Shared by:Emil Milker

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