St. Augustine Gold and Copper Limited
Although its name puts gold first, St. Augustine Gold and Copper's leading metal is copper: copper is 56% of the life-of-mine metal revenue of its Kingking copper-gold project in the Philippines (40% interest). Kingking's measured and indicated resources contain 5.98 billion lb of copper (1.12 billion tonnes at 0.24% Cu, mill and heap-leach material), and the mill material also holds 11.1 million oz of gold, with a 960-million-tonne reserve. The July 2025 PFS outlines forecast average annual output of 129,000 tonnes copper and 333,000oz gold in the first five years, and a Definitive Feasibility Study is underway (with Stantec/IMC) targeting completion in Q4 2026.
Notable vs. Peers
- Financials score of 2.2/10 is weaker than the peer average of 5.6/10.
- Jurisdiction risk score of 5/10 is meaningfully riskier than the peer average of 7.7/10.
- Trading within 4% of its 52-week low — weak recent price momentum.
Lifecycle Milestones
Not in place: mill, grid power. Not yet determined: tailings facility.
Jurisdiction (40%)5/10
The Philippines lifted its open-pit ban in Dec 2021 and Kingking's core ECC/DMPF permits remain in good standing, but the Mineral Processing Permit has lapsed and Mindanao carries elevated security/regulatory-execution risk versus Tier-1 jurisdictions.
Infrastructure (40%)3.6/10
No confirmed mill, confirmed road access, and no confirmed grid power at Kingking Copper-Gold Project, Pantukan, Davao de Oro, Philippines; tailings facility not yet researched, counted at a neutral 5/10 until established.
Nearby producing mine (20%)Not yet researched
No producing mine within 50 km in our reference list (nearest listed: Taganito (Taganito Mining Corporation), 261 km). That list doesn't cover every mining district yet, so a longer distance isn't scored as remote.
Acquisition Susceptibility
A relative ranking of how closely this company matches the profile of juniors that have actually been acquired — not a probability, and not a reason to buy. Acquisitions are rare: only a few dozen significant deals happen a year across a universe of thousands of juniors, so even a high score here describes a long shot. The strongest signal in the research, a producer that already owns part of the company, is scored from its disclosed strategic shareholders. A producer that is a joint-venture or earn-in partner on the project, rather than a shareholder, isn't captured yet.
How this score is built
- Disclosed pending dealSub-score: Not scored
No pending acquisition or merger disclosed (checked)
Not scored: having no deal in flight isn't held against a company.
Weight 26.25% - Producer's strategic stakeSub-score: Not scored
No producer holds a disclosed stake on file (holder register researched) See holders
Not scored: most juniors that do get bought had no prior toehold, so a missing stake says little either way.
Weight 25% - Distance to a producing mineSub-score:0/10
Nearest producing mine: Taganito (Taganito Mining Corporation), 261 km
10 next to a producing mine, 8 at 20 km, 5 at 50 km, 0 beyond 200 km.
Weight 22.5% · 46% here - Lifecycle stageSub-score:8/10
Stage: Pre-Feasibility Study
Feasibility and permitting score 10, where deals cluster, and production 5.5; earlier stages score less, down to 1 at grassroots.
Weight 15% · 31% here - JurisdictionSub-score:5/10
Philippines: jurisdiction score 5/10
Our jurisdiction score, used as is: higher means lower political and permitting risk.
Weight 6.75% · 14% here - CommoditySub-score:8/10
Primary commodity: Copper
Gold 10, copper 8, silver 5, nickel and uranium 4, others 2: most majors' deals are for gold.
Weight 4.5% · 9% here
Weight is each input's share of the full score. “Here” is its share of this company's score: inputs that aren't scored are left out and the rest re-weighted, never counted as zero.
Your Rankings
Management Team
President and Chief Executive Officer of St. Augustine Gold and Copper Limited, based in the Philippines.
President, CEO and Director of TVI Pacific Inc.; also Chief Operating Officer of St. Augustine Gold and Copper Limited. Business executive with over 35 years of managerial experience in construction, real estate development and mining; mining executive since 2014 including roles with St. Augustine Gold and Copper Limited (Chief Operating Officer since 2015) and TVI Resource Development Phils Inc. Recently commissioner and President/CEO of the Social Security System. Board member of Union Bank of the Philippines and Philex Mining. Economics degree, Ateneo de Zamboanga University; MBA, Ateneo de Manila.
CFO of TVI Pacific Inc.; also Chief Finance Officer of St. Augustine Gold and Copper Limited. Finance professional (CPA, CMA, CFM, CCMSA, CGBA); currently Director for Finance and Special Projects at TVI Resource Development (Phils), Inc. Previously President of Greenstone Resources Corporation and Assistant Professor at University of the Philippines, Mindanao. BSC Accounting, Xavier University, Philippines; MBA, Durham University, England.
Executive Director of St. Augustine Gold and Copper Limited, based in Greece/Switzerland.
General Counsel of TVI Pacific Inc.; also General Counsel of St. Augustine Gold and Copper Limited. Corporate lawyer with over 17 years of experience as in-house legal counsel, including six-plus years in Philippine mining. Previously Senior Manager for Legal Affairs at TVIRD and Senior Legal Manager for Ethics and Compliance at Republic Cement Services Inc. Juris Doctor, Ateneo Law School; BA Political Science (cum laude), University of the Philippines Diliman.
Insiders, Investors & Smart Money
Notable shareholders and insiders whose involvement is worth knowing about, plus what we're seeing from institutional/large-investor activity.
Queensberry Mining and Development Corp, the Villar family's vehicle, holds 525,763,405 shares, about 33.3% of St. Augustine (its stake was about 52% after a June 2025 debt settlement, before the December 2025 placement). Queensberry's parent is majority-owned by St. Augustine's own President and CEO, Manuel Paolo A. Villar, so this is management's stake rather than outside investor conviction. Director Nicolaos Paraskevas bought 16.5 million shares in the December 2025 private placement. No mining company, specialist fund or institutional holder is on record.
No notable insiders tracked for this miner yet.
Reports, Presentations & Documents
Although its name puts gold first, St. Augustine Gold and Copper's leading metal is copper: it holds a 40% interest in the Kingking copper-gold project in Pantukan, Davao de Oro, in the Philippines, planned as an open-pit mine, where copper is 56% of the pre-feasibility study's life-of-mine metal revenue. Kingking's measured and indicated resources contain 5,982,000,000 lb of copper on a 100% basis (1.12 billion tonnes at 0.24% Cu, mill and heap-leach material, estimate effective February 2024), plus 3,013,000,000 lb inferred; the mill material also holds 11.1 million oz of gold. The July 2025 updated pre-feasibility study shows an after-tax NPV7% of US$4.18B and a 34.2% IRR at US$2,150/oz gold and US$4.30/lb copper, with initial capital of US$2.37B and a 38-year mine and process life, averaging 129,000 t of copper and 333,000 oz of gold a year in the first five years. A definitive feasibility study led by Stantec and IMC is targeted for the fourth quarter of 2026, and in June 2026 the company appointed a financial adviser to evaluate financing and strategic options.