PSE Circular for Brokers No. 647-00

March 14, 2000 PSE CIRCULAR FOR BROKERS NO. 647-00 BENGUETCORP ISSUE "AAA" CONTRACTOR LICENSE Makati, Metro Manila, 13 March 2000 Benguet Corporation. through its Engineering and Construction Services Division, was granted last February 29, 2000. a Contractor's License by the Philippine Contractors Accreditation Board. The license has a "AAA" Category General Building Classification, with General Engineering as the other classification. It allows the Company to engage in engineering design and construction contracting over a wide range of project types and sizes in the country. BenguetCorp was established in 1903 and is the pioneer mining company in the Philippines. In the course of its mining operations, the Company's engineers have designed and built major infrastructure in and around its mining communities. The Company has engaged in big volume earthworks and rock excavation, tunnel driving and lining, construction of roads and bridges, earth dams and water systems, land development and mass housing, among others. Of note the Company has driven more than 150 kilometers of tunnel, has moved earth at 80,000 to 100,000 tons per day, and has successfully built seven earth dams with one being the largest in the Far East, with a crest height of 140 meters and crest length of 1.5 kilometers. It has also constructed over a thousand housing units for its employees and supplied these units with electric power, potable water, and telephone communication. In recent years the Company spent over P2 billion on infrastructure. From a purely mining organization, BenguetCorp has diversified into a natural resource company with projects in land and water resource development alongside its mining activities. The outside contracting business is not entirely new to BenguetCorp. In the past, the Company did most of its contracting work through a subsidiary Engineering Equipment, Inc. which it later divested and completely sold in 1993. Now, with its Triple A contractor's license, BenguetCorp will again offer to the outside market its vast engineering and construction experience, derived from almost a hundred years of operation. The Company is open to partnering and has the capability to lead a consortium for big projects. Of late, the Company has been pre-qualified to bid for various municipal water system projects under the Department of the Interior and Local Government, and is seeking pre-qualification to bid for some dam projects under the National Irrigation Administration.