Lawyer Ricardo Lazaro, Jr., Bataan chief of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, on Thursday revealed that gold, copper, silver and zinc deposits may be in existence in big quantities in a 1,400-hectare mountain site in the Mariveles-Bagac area.
The provincial environment and natural resources officer said that a surfacial estimate placed the ore deposits at 21 million metric tons. To get the total ore deposits in the site, Lazarro said that there is need for complete exploration test of at least nine holes.
He estimated the cost of boring per hole at more than one million pesos. The venture was named the Pantingan Gold Project. Pantingan is an area in the town of Pilar with its mountain ranges expanding to Mariveles and Bagac, towns south of Bataan.
There were reports that an American company had begun mining in the area during the pre-war years but the activity was cut short when World War II erupted. Lazarro could not, however, confirm the report and said they were still going on collecting data.
Some areas in Bataan were the subject of treasure hunting, believing that retreating soldiers of the Japanese Imperial Army left and buried what was known as Yamashita treasure.
Many have spent their fortune in the venture but rumors as to some becoming multi-millionaires remained a mystery.
