No More Gold for Mt. de Oro Small Miners 
Gov’t Says Gold-Rush Site Fit Only for Big Mining Companies

Gold that has turned into dust. This must be the lament of small miners in Mt. de Oro (which literally means gold in Spanish) after the government declared that small-scale mining activities in the area are “not economically viable.”

BY TYRONE VELEZ
Bulatlat

COMPOSTELA VALLEY -- Following the closure of the new gold rush area of Mt. de Oro in Maco, Compostela Valley, the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) in Southern Mindanao claims that small-scale mining activities in the area are “not economically viable.”

According to MGB mining officer Engr. Edilberto Ariza, the quality of gold deposit on Mt. de Oro requires processing that can only be done by large mining companies. This is part of the MGB report presented to the Compostela Valley provincial board last July 14. 

Ariza explains that the methods used by small miners would produce poor quality of gold ore because the gold deposit in the area is heavily mixed with other minerals.

The MGB report came at a time when some 7,000 small miners who flocked to the site face uncertainty. MGB’s claim reinforces the possible re-entry of two mining companies that once ventured in the mining areas in Maco town here, the Apex Mining Company and the North Davao Mining Company.

Both companies ventured into mining in Maco as early as the 1960s but stopped their operations around 1990s. They have yet to settle the issue on who has the rightful claim to Mt. de Oro, which sits right on the boundary of the small miners’ mining areas.

The MGB assured the small miners that they would continue their operations after a 45-day closure order was implemented earlier. Ariza said that despite the MGB’s report that small mining is not economically-viable, his office still recommended that their operations will coninue.

The Mt. de Oro Small Scale Miners Association, which groups around 700 miners in the area, however, believes that this does not guarantee the miners anything. The group’s vice president, Danny delos Reyes, said the legalization and regulation of small-scale mining operations could help ease the tension in the area.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) had earlier declared the closure of Mt. De Oro from mining operations effective July 12, following reports of possible landslides in the area.

The small miners say that so far they have reinforced the ban on the cutting of trees, the evacuation of families from areas deemed critical by DENR, and stopped the influx of more miners. Bulatlat

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