More people prospecting for gold in Compostela Valley, Zamboanga del Sur

TAGUM CITY, Philippines—New gold-rush areas have developed in Compostela Valley’s 11 municipalities, and even people holding down jobs were being drawn to search for gold by the continuing surge in the price of the metal, officials said Tuesday.

A similar phenomenon was taking place in the municipality of Bayog in Zamboanga del Sur.

Compostela Valley Governor Arturo Uy said people have been flocking to the gold-rush areas and the authorities were keeping a tight watch over them to prevent disasters from happening.

“Yes, there are reports of (new gold rush areas) and the discovery of supposed rich deposits is the main driving force,” Uy said.

Eric Luzon, a miner at the newly discovered gold rush village of Pamintaran in Maragusan, said at least 3,000 people have flocked to the village since June.

“Some portions have good deposits but you have to dig deeper. Many self-financing miners had to resort to banding with mid-level financiers, composed of Tagum-based businessmen so they could sustain their operations,” he told the Inquirer.

Spurring the search for gold is the continuing surge in the prices of the metal in the world market. Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Ramon Paje said the price of gold is expected to hit $2,000 per ounce toward the end of the year.

Uy said the provincial government has been regulating the operation of both small-scale and big-scale mining in the province following disasters blamed on reckless gold-digging activities.

He said mayors were tasked to monitor gold-rush sites in their respective municipalities to make sure that local ordinances on safe mining were being followed.

In Compostela town, new gold prospects in the community of Bango in Ngan village drew hundreds of people and even laborers at banana plantations and other “non-miners” have shifted to gold-digging in the hope of striking it big, said Mayor Jessie Bolo.

“We really cannot control these people. What we can do is see to it that their operations are being closely monitored so accidents and disasters could be avoided and pollution from mine wastes minimized,” Bolo told the Inquirer by phone.

In the capital town of Nabunturan, officials are seeking to prevent small-scale miners from encroaching into the Mainit National Park.

“Due to complaints from residents and environment officials, the gold-rush area in Mainit village has already been closed down,” a staffer in the office of Mayor Romeo Clarin said.

But the staffer, who refused to be identified, said “the miners kept coming back.”

“Most of them are transients,” he added.

In Zamboanga del Sur, prospectors have also been flocking to known mining areas in the municipality of Bayog.

Bayog Mayor Leonardo Babasa Jr. described the mining activities in Balabag village “as bustling, it’s like Diwalwal.”

He said the high price of gold was the main reason for the influx. Merchants pay P2,100 per gram of 24-carat gold while lower grade gold ore is being bought for P1,800.

Babasa said the number of people in Balabag has swelled to 3,000 from only “hundreds in 2000.”

He said some miners have also become more sophisticated and now use some equipment.