Mining company appeals directly to Aquino

FILE PHOTO

DAVAO CITY, Philippines—Sagittarius Mines Inc., the Philippine unit of the Switzerland-based Xstrata, has bypassed the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and gone straight to the Office of the President in its bid to operate a gold and copper mine project in South Cotabato, a company official confirmed Wednesday.

Anacleto Suelto, SMI technical superintendent, said SMI decided to bypass the environmental agency this time as it denied the company’s application for environmental compliance certificate rtwice before.

He did not say though when exactly the motion for reconsideration was submitted to President Aquino’s office.

“The President has yet to act on SMI’s MR or appeal,” Suelto told reporters here.

At an annual forum of the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines in Manila last October, Mr. Aquino hinted he was not keen on meddling with the DENR’s decision on SMI’s ECC.

He said SMI, which wants to operate a $5.9 billion mine project in Tampakan, South Cotabato, “needs to wait for amendments” to the Mining Act of 1995.

Mr. Aquino was quoted in the reports printed after the Focap forum that potential environmental disasters could not be risked without a new revenue-sharing scheme guiding mining operations.

“That seems to be the more prudent way to look at it and the prudent way to undertake our relationships with the mining industry in general,” he said.

Told that SMI was optimistic he would grant the company’s appeal for ECC, Mr. Aquino replied: “I don’t have that confidence at this point in time.”

Suelto admitted that SMI was facing rough sailing in its bid to operate the Tampakan project.

He said aside from the ECC, SMI also lacked the consent of some indigenous communities and affected areas in the provinces of Davao del Sur, South Cotabato and Sarangani.