Filipino scientists Monday said they believe that there are high probabilities of large deposits of gold and silver in the central parts of Mindoro and Panay after both islands were identified as the “collision zone” of two crashing tectonic plates holding Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

The Department of Science and Technology (DoST) explained that mineral resource potential usually follow and is relative to a major crustal deformation, which scientists from credible universities in the Philippines and Taiwan recently discovered occurring in the Western Visayas region.

“We are convinced (that) there are mineral deposits like gold, silver, copper, zinc, and other precious metals in Mindoro and Panay (islands),” Dr. Graciano Yumul, DoST undersecretary for research and development, told the Manila Bulletin in an exclusive interview.

Yumul explained that mineralization normally occurs in the extension zones of a land mass like mountains particularly volcanoes, where “there is high possibility for mineralization because they have fluids with metals like gold, copper, and zinc (underneath).”

The DoST official added that the on going “head-on collision” of the plate holding Palawan islands with the plate underneath Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao in Western Visayas will gradually create a whole new “zone of extensions” in the land mass of Mindoro and Panay islands.

“The collision zone creates fractures on faults in Mindoro or Panay that we call zone of extensions where there could have been deposits of fluid and other precious metals,” Yumul explained.

“They usually lie in the middle of the islands near and where there are high mountains mountains like the towns of San Jose, Halcon, and Sablayan in Mindoro island and in Antique in the island of Panay,” he noted.