The Supreme Court has upheld the claim of Olympic Mines and Development Corp. and its successors-in-interest over a 2,200-hectare mine site in Palawan.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Oriental Peninsula Resources Group Inc.—parent company of Citinickel Mines and Development Corp., which now owns Olympic’s mine sites, said the high court’s resolution affirmed earlier rulings of the Court of Appeals and the Mines Adjudication Board against Olympic’s rival claimant, Itawes Mining Exploration Co.

Oriental Peninsula corporate secretary Christine Base said that in junking Itawes’ petition for review, the high court effectively upheld the validity of Olympic’s Mineral Production Sharing Agreement application, the lease contracts of its predecessors and deed of assignment and letter of intent covering the subject mining areas in Palawan.

The Supreme Court’s First Division rejected Itawes’ petition, saying the company raised factual issues which were not for proper consideration by the high tribunal.

Olympic Mines, an exploration firm owned by the family of former central bank Gov. Gregorio Licaros Sr., consolidated ownership in 1996 of the mine sites in San Isidro, Narra, and Pulot, Espanola, all in southern Palawan. The mining areas were previously owned by Olympic’s affiliates Atlantic City Exploration, Mondo Exploration and Toronto Exploration.

Nine years later, Itawes filed an application covering the same area of Olympic, which has since transferred its ownership of the mine site to Citinickel, a subsidiary of publicly-listed Oriental Peninsula.

Despite the rejection by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau-DENR Region IV-B, Itawes claimed that Olympic/Citinickel’s MPSA was illegal because the Palawan site was allegedly closed to mining applications since these were still owned by Atlantic, Mondo and Toronto.