Lepanto
Discovers New Gold Reserves
Residents caution DENR over permit issuance
Asia’s
top gold producer, Lepanto Consolidated Mining Company (LCMCo), has
discovered gold reserves in its mining area. The discovery is expected to
boost its gold production in addition to its gold expansion projects. Town
and village officials are not happy and have asked the environment
department not to issue permit for the company’s new operations.
BY
ARTHUR L. ALLAD-IW
NORTHERN DISPATCH
Bulatlat
BAGUIO
CITY – The Lepanto Consolidated Mining Company (LCMCo), Asia’s top
gold producer, has recently discovered gold reserves in its mining area.
The discovery is expected to boost its gold production in addition to its
gold expansion projects called the Victoria 1 and II.
Local
officials and leaders claim however that like the company’s gold
expansion projects, the operation of the newly-discovered gold reserve
faces rough sailing as residents reiterated their opposition to any
company expansion project while mine-related issues remain unresolved.
The
newly-discovered mine site is called Teresa Ore body which can add another
15 years to Lepanto’s operation. Located at the Lepanto mine area where
it is supposed to operate the Far South East Project (FSEP), the estimated
gold reserve in the area is pegged at 110,418 kilograms.
The
FSEP’s center of operation is in Sitio Tabbac, Barangay Bulalacao.
NORDIS sources said the ore body covers the barangays of Suyoc,
Bulacacao, and Taneg, all in the municipality of Mankayan, Benguet,
which is around 100
kilometers from this city.
The
LCMC expansion projects Victoria I and II cover the tri-boundaries of the
provinces of Ilocos Sur, Mountain Province, and Benguet.
Sangguniang
Bayan (municipal council) member and Association of Barangay Councils
(ABC) president Denver Tongacan in a NORDIS interview appealed to
government agencies to exercise caution in approving the permit to operate
the newly discovered mine site while urging them to resolve mine-related
issues.
Communities
filed a petition with the office of the DENR secretary last December 2003
urging the office to investigate the effects of Lepanto operations in the
area. Environment Secretary Elisea Gozun allegedly referred the petition
to the DENR-CAR office but the petitioners claim that there has been no
action from the agency.
The
petition also claims that Lepanto’s expansion projects have no
Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) which the law requires before
any mining activity can be started.
Earlier,
the residents reiterated that they did not endorse the expansion projects.
They lobbied with the Sangguniang Bayan which led to the withdrawal of the
latter’s resolution that endorsed the project.
Community
leader Albert Diego urged the DENR/MGB not to issue a permit to the
company for its newly-discovered project and asked that it consider the
position of the community. Diego is an officer of DAMAYAN (Danggayan
Dagiti Maseknan nga Umili ti Mankayan), an association of residents of
different barangays in Mankayan, established in 2003.
DAMAYAN
leaders said that Lepanto has, at present, tailing dams #5-A for its mine
wastes. They said that with the Victoria I and II, and the pending Teresa
Ore, more mine wastes are expected.
“The
mine waste disposal should be seriously considered as the Abra River
suffers from mine wastes,” said Diego.
The
DAMAYAN urged the concerned government agencies not to undermine the
democratic processes needed to be implemented before any mining
activities. “It must consider the social acceptability, environmental
and ancestral land issues,” Diego said. Bulatlat
Back
to top
We
want to know what you think of this article.
|