Consunji Family’s Semirara Plans $5 Billion Coal Mine Expansion

Semirara Mining and Power, the coal and energy unit of billionaire Isidro Consunji’s family’s DMCI Holdings, plans to spend 291 billion pesos ($5 billion) to expand its coal operations to meet growing power demand and the requirements of the group’s cement operations.

The estimated cost of the five-year expansion covers capital expenditures, production costs and operating expenses, Semirara said in a Philippine Stock Exchange filing.

The project will expand the existing Narra and Molave coal mines and open a third mine on Semirara Island, the company said Monday, confirming local media reports.

The expansion will help ensure power and coal supplies for the local cement business that DMCI and Semirara, along with the Consunji family’s privately held Dacon, acquired from Mexico’s Cemex.

Coal and oil account for 62% of Philippine energy consumption, which is expected to grow about 6% a year from 2020 through 2040, according to a February 2024 Philippines Energy Report by Enerdata.

The Acacia mine, as Semirara’s third coal prospect is called, has 66 million metric tons in reserves and is supposed to start operating as early as the third quarter of 2026, according to a Manila Standard report.

Consunji and his siblings inherited DMCI after their father David, a titan of the Philippine construction industry, died in 2017. With a net worth of $3.4 billion, the family ranked No. 5 on the list of the Philippines’ 50 Richest published in August.