3 mines had been cited for safety violations, say environment execs

ROAD TO PERDITION Aside from Nickel Corp.’s smelting plant and a guest house, communist guerrillas set on fire 132 dump trucks, 22 backhoes, nine barges, two cranes, two bulldozers, a compactor and a grader. contributed photo

Three mining firms in Surigao del Norte, virtually paralyzed by Monday’s attacks by communist rebels, had been notified for violating safety procedures and for polluting Claver Bay, environment officials said Wednesday.

But Director Leo Jasareno of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) said Taganito Mining Corp. (TMC), Taganito HPAL Nickel Corp. and Platinum Group Metals Corp. had no serious environmental violations that would have prompted the government to suspend their operations.

“The government will not allow any mining project to compromise the norms of proper environmental management,” Jasareno said in an interview.

A day after the attacks, the National Democratic Front (NDF), the political arm of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), said the three firms had failed to answer charges of environmental destruction and displacement of indigenous peoples.

Jorge Madlos, NDF spokesperson in Mindanao, said the New People’s Army (NPA), the armed wing of the CPP, had found out that the three mining firms had damaged the environment and violated workers’ rights and committed other violations.

During Monday’s attacks, the NPA razed a smelting plant, a guest house, 132 dump trucks, 22 backhoes, nine barges, two  cranes, two bulldozers, a compactor and a grader.

Operations resume

Despite the damage to its equipment, TMC has resumed operations and is expected to start loading operations of nickel ore within the next three weeks, its parent firm, Nickel Asia Corp., said Wednesday.

Nickel Asia president Gerard H. Brimo said the company did not expect a significant reduction in its shipments this year.

Brimo informed the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) that TMC suffered P500 million worth of damage. Damage to the adjacent smelting plant is being assessed, he said. The $1.4-billion plant of Taganito HPAL Nickel Corp., in which Nickel Asia has a minority stake, is still under construction.

Safety violations

Based on quarterly assessments by a multiparty team of the MGB, local government and nongovernment organizations this year, the mines had been issued notices for violation of safety procedures such as the failure of employees to wear helmets, and the presence of dust in the workplace, Jasareno said.

Had they failed to rectify these, their operations would have been suspended by the MGB, he said.

“These were workplace violations whose impact was not that severe. Nickel ore is mined and then shipped. That’s how simple the process is. There are no tailings,” he said. “But had they committed serious environmental degradation, like massive siltation of coastal areas, that’s a big no-no.”

Fined

The three mines, however, had been issued notices of violation for the pollution of Claver Bay, but they had been fined, and had instituted mitigating measures, according to a ranking environment official, who asked not to be named.

“The pollution did not pose a serious threat to life and limb,” the official said.

Renato Reyes of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan said the government was aware of the adverse effects of large-scale mining in Claver town.

Destructive effects

Reyes said even Secretary Nereus Acosta, presidential adviser on climate change, was interviewed in connection with a TV documentary on the “destructive effects” of large-scale mining in the town, which was aired on GMA 7’s “Reporters’ Notebook” on  Tuesday night.

“From the footage we saw, the environmental destruction was real. The local residents and indigenous peoples were severely affected and were crying out for government help. What was clear from the documentary was that there was no concrete response yet from the government,” Reyes said in a statement.

Jasareno had not seen the documentary, but he believed that this was about the operations of small-scale mining companies that had been allowed by the provincial government to use heavy equipment, projecting the image of large-scale operations.

Compliance with ECC

Even so, he said a team from the MGB’s regional office was now assessing the performance of the mines in terms of their compliance with their environmental compliance certificate (ECC), and environmental protection and enhancement program.

“The assessment is precisely to look into their compliance with the ECC, particularly the prevention of siltation and damage on coral reefs, reforestation, and progressive rehabilitation of the environment, and even proper waste disposal,” he said. “This is urgent because of what happened.”

On top of this, the MGB and the Environmental Management Bureau are also dispatching another team this week to assess the social impact of the mines, Jasareno said.

17 Mamanwa tribes

The mine sites of TMC in the villages of Taganito and Urbiztondo and that of PGMC in Cagdianao village are within the 48,870 hectares covered by the Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT) belonging to 17 Mamanwa tribes.

The Taganito High-Pressure Acid Leaching (HPAL) plant is just 200 meters from TMC, a sister company.

The CADT spans five municipalities—Alegria, Bacuag, Claver, Gigaquit and Tubod.

Two other mining firms—Oriental Synergy Mining Corp. and Case Mining Co.—operate within the CADT but were not attacked on Monday.

Slowdown

Mayor Rosemarie Gokiangkee said mining firms in Claver town continued to operate albeit in a “slowdown” mode as they grappled with the challenge of salvaging sunken barges and cleaning up mine equipment that lay in ruins.

“They (mining companies) are operating but not in a normal capacity. The workers are still reporting pending formal announcements from their respective companies,” Gokiangkee said.

Dulmar Raagas, president of the Chamber of Mines in the Caraga region, said it was impossible to give a time frame within which mining operations could resume at normal levels.

“How could they (mining companies) go back to full operation when almost all of their equipment are gone? Replacing the equipment, including the destroyed barges, is very expensive and will take time,” Raagas said.

Safest Mine Award

In his report to the PSE, Brimo said the rebels were not happy with the economic progress in Surigao del Norte as a result of the Taganito mining project.

“The impact of this (project) on the local economy has been significant and palpable. The populist rhetoric that followed the armed raid is unadulterated propaganda which has no demonstrable basis in fact,” Brimo said.

TMC stands by its “exemplary social and environmental record for the past 24 years,” which has earned the company various awards, he said.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, the Philippine Mine Safety and Environment Association noted that TMC received the Presidential Mineral Industry Environmental Award for surface mining in 2003, 2004, and 2008. TMC was also the recipient of the Safest Mine Award in 2003, 2008 and 2009, it said. With a report from Germelina Lacorte, Inquirer Mindanao