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MANILA, Dec 22 (Reuters) - A worker at the Tampakan copper and gold exploration site in the southern Philippines was killed and two others wounded when a lone gunman fired on their vehicle, local police and mine owner Xstrata (LSE: XTA.L - news) said on Monday.
The lode is one of Southeast Asia's richest untapped deposits, with an estimated 12.8 million tonnes of copper and 15.2 million ounces of gold. It is 62.5 percent owned by Swiss-based mining giant Xstrata.
The workers were returning to the company's supply base late on Sunday when they were fired upon, said Felizardo Serapio, police chief in South Cotabato province, adding that Maoist-led New People's Army (NPA) rebels could be behind the attack.
'The communist rebels are known to be operating in the area and they have staged attacks against the company in the past,' Serapio told reporters.
An army spokesman, Major Randolph Cabangbang, said the attack could have been motivated by a personal grudge.
Police were investigating, Xstrata said in a statement released by its Philippine-based affiliate Sagitarius Mines Inc.
Sagitarius declined to make any further immediate comment.
After a number of attacks this year allegedly by the NPA, the Philippines offered to train private security guards protecting mines as part of efforts to attract more foreign investment in the sector.
Since the start of the year, four major mine sites in the country, including Tampakan, have been attacked.
An armed gang attacked and set fire to a mine exploration rig at the Tampakan site in July. Discovered in 1991, development of the site has not progressed far beyond the drawing boards.
On Sunday, local nickel ore company SR Metals Mining Corp. was attacked by about 60 NPA rebels in another part of Mindanao island.
The rebels burned heavy equipment and seized seven assault rifles from private security guards protecting the site.
Nestor Fajurra, a police spokesman, said the NPA rebels also destroyed a nearly mobile cell site and ransacked a local police station, taking radio equipment.
'No one was hurt but millions of pesos of property went up in smoke,' Fajurra said, adding the rebels were also targeting the country's economy by attacking mines, plantations and mobile phone companies.
(Reporting by Manuel Mogato in Manila and James Regan in Sydney