China firm uses shore as waste pond

AN AERIAL photo taken on Sept. 8, 2012, shows the foreshore settling pond of Shenzhou Mining Group Corp., which was penalized for irresponsible mining practices last year. ROEL N. CATOTO/CONTRIBUTOR

CLAVER, Surigao del Norte—Pollute now, earn later?

This appears to be the case for a Chinese nickel mining firm here which, after being suspended for using the shoreline as its siltation pond, was allowed to ship tons of recovered waste deposits to China.

The four shipments, totaling 200,000 wet metric tons of ore, earned for Shenzhou Mining Group Corp. (SMGC) some P174.9 million, according to Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) records. The hauling and shipment occurred in March—eight months after MGB suspended the company’s mining activities following the severe siltation that occurred along the shoreline where it operated.

A siltation, or settling, pond is a structure where silt-laden discharges are impounded temporarily to allow waste materials to settle down and for water to overflow silt-free.

‘Unacceptable’

SMGC built a giant settling pond on the shoreline to act as a “last-stage siltation control,” said a report by a team of government environmental experts who inspected the mine site in March last year.

The foreshore settling pond would discharge wastes directly into the sea.

Such a practice is unheard of in the mining industry and is considered a clear example of irresponsible mining, said a member of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) team who spoke to the Inquirer on condition of anonymity because SMGC’s appeal to resume operations is pending at MGB.

Siltation ponds should only be located inland where they act to immediately prevent surface runoff from flowing directly into water bodies, the DENR technical officer said.

In the suspension order dated July 18, 2012, MGB acting director Leo L. Jasareno told SMGC president Lin Wei Zhao that “the construction of the said foreshore settling pond as a last-stage siltation control is not an acceptable mining practice.”

SMGC’s environmental offense was considered blatant in the mining industry that the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines (COMP) praised the government for suspending the company’s operations.

Bad idea

SMGC officials, who spoke to the Inquirer, defended the company’s controversial mining practice, describing the shoreline-based silt pond as a “foreshore dike,” which they said acted as a “silt curtain” or barrier against any runoff from inland waste ponds.

They said, however, that they built the structure upon recommendation of the Mine Rehabilitation Fund Committee (MRFC)—a multisectoral policy-making body that monitors the environmental compliance of mining companies.

SMGC officials requested that their names not be mentioned because of the “sensitivity of the situation.”

Roger de Dios, MGB-Caraga regional director, said he was at a loss why the MRFC would recommend the construction of a silt pond on the shore.

Alilo Ensemo Jr., an engineer, then headed the MGB in Caraga and also chaired the MRFC. De Dios took over Ensemo in September last year.

The foreshore dike proposal, De Dios said, should have been nipped in the bud when this was presented in 2010—the year SMGC started operating on some 434 hectares along the coastline bordering this town and the Surigao del Sur municipality of Carrascal.

De Dios said any member of the MRFC—composed of representatives from MGB, the provincial government, civil society and religious sector—could have at least recommended its dismantling during the committee’s quarterly meetings.

Governor’s request

“Apparently, there was a failure on the part of the MRFC to assess the suitability of putting up the foreshore settling pond,” the MGB-Caraga chief said.

It was also the same MRFC members who recommended the shipment of the ore recovered from the foreshore settling pond, according to SMGC’s report to MGB.

Each shipment weighs 50,000 metric tons and the vast discrepancy was filled by ore recovered from the company’s “rehabilitation efforts”—such as re-contouring and reshaping of slopes to minimize silt runoff, according to De Dios.

Aside from supporting SMGC’s bid at the MRFC to have the tons of stockpiled ore shipped, the provincial government went to great lengths by independently endorsing the matter to the DENR.

Governor’s letter

In a letter to Environment Secretary Ramon Paje on Oct. 22 last year, Gov. Sol Matugas requested that the company’s existing ore stockpile be shipped to prevent it from causing “environmental hazards” due to “heavy rains.”

Based on that request, Jasareno on March 25 ordered MGB-Caraga to issue ore transport permits for shipment of the stockpiled ore to China.

Jasareno said the shipments were “purely for environmental purposes” and that the suspension order against SMGC remains in effect.

Asked why he and Paje ordered the shipment instead of simply requiring SMGC to seek safer stockpiling methods, the MGB chief explained that the agency “merely” acceded to the request of the provincial government.

“That’s a request of Governor Matugas for the waste to be removed from the shoreline and stop it from escaping further into the sea,” the MGB chief told the Inquirer by phone.