NBI asks DOJ to probe Surigao Sur mining firm

The National Bureau of Investigation has asked the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate a mining firm based in Surigao del Sur for alleged illegal mining operations and violations of environmental laws.

Twenty persons, all officials of Platinum Group Metals Corp. (PGMC), were recommended by the NBI for prosecution for alleged violation of several provisions of the Philippine Mining Act and the Philippine Clean Water Act, according to the May 23 complaint filed by the NBI at the DOJ’s Prosecutor General’s Office.

The law enforcement agency was asked as early as 2008 to look into possible mining and environmental violations of PGMC by Case Mining and Development Corp. (CMDC) on CMDC property in Claver, Surigao del Sur.

PGMC is the operator of the mining activities in CMDC property. CMDC in 2004 transferred all its rights, titles and interests to Surigao Integrated Resources Corp., (SIRC). SIRC is 100-percent owned  by PGMC.

CMDC had alleged, though, that PGMC violated contract agreements and had “threatened the environment and the communities near the mining tenements.”

CMDC also accused PGMC of failing to rehabilitate mined-out areas and declaring a lower income “to shave off the royalties,” said a five-page letter of NBI Director Nonnatus Rojas, who recommended the preliminary investigation of PGMC.

Rojas submitted findings made by the NBI’s Environment and Wildlife Investigation Division and Special Investigation Services.

The NBI reported that the Mines and Geosciences Bureau had notified PGMC in February 2012 of siltation that its operations caused.

The bureau had said this showed an “unconventional method of large-scale open-cut mining” and “unsafe mining practices.” The NBI said this could cause “wayward runoff discharge.”

The NBI report said that PGMC, on the other hand, accused of CMDC of trying to “gain leverage.”

PGMC submitted a letter to the NBI seeking a meeting with CMDC in May this year to discuss royalties and its intent to pay.