The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines National Secretariat of Social Action and the Alyansa Tigil Mina and their network of civil society organizations were pleased to hear the firm statement of the new Environment chief Ramon Paje on ensuring the protection and conservation of the natural resources by suspending the issuance of large-scale mining permits.
“We reaffirm our stand against large-scale mining. This does not only destruct our natural resources, but also allows the displacement of communities in the affected areas. As church leaders, we cannot watch this happen to the Filipino people."
"We have supported the Natural Resources Management and Stewardship Act since it started, we will see it through its passage,” CBCP-NASSA Executive Secretary, Father Edu Gariguez, said in a statement.
Last year, the Natural Resources Management and Stewardship Act or House Bill No. 6342, was approved on the third reading. It was re-submitted to the 15th Congress last month as House Bill No. 206 which proposes to regulate the rational exploration and utilization of our natural resources, and protection of indigenous peoples and local communities.
Taking the lead in scrapping the Mining Bill of 1995 and signing into law of the NaRMS is Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center Friends of the Earth Philippines.
“DENR Secretary Ramon Paje said it himself, the Mining Bill of 1995 is inherently flawed. Foreign investors have been benefiting a lot from mining in the Philippines at the expense of our natural resources and communities,” said LRC-FOEI Executive Director Judy Pasimio.
Unfortunately, mining has contributed very little in the country's GDP. In 2007, the contributions of the mining industry was merely 1.4%, compared to the contribution of the agriculture sector at 35%.
Meanwhile, environmental group HARIBON Foundation Executive Director Blas Tabaranza said: “Going back, in the 15 years of promoting the extractive industry in the country, we have seen how terrible communities have been. Mining has killed our forests and polluted our waters.”
In 2005, HARIBON reported that extractions and explorations affect the Philippines Important Biodiversity Areas mainly areas in Sierra Madre in Luzon Island, Palawan in central Philippines and CARAGA region in Mindanao.
To mitigate the destructive effects of mining, Haribon is also pushing for the approval of Forest Resources Conservation and Management Bill.
“We have seen international investors in and out of our land, exploiting the environment and even our people. Now that we heard a positive statement from Sec. Paje, we have hope that the Natural Resources Management and Stewardship Act will be approved and signed into law under the new administration,” said ATM National Coordinator Jaybee Garganera.
“Rest assured, we will continue in our advocacy, especially in supporting organizations in communities affected by mining,” Garganera added.
Showing posts with label Mining. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mining. Show all posts
Friday, August 06, 2010
Church, civil groups reaffirm stand vs. large-scale mining in the Philippines
MANILA, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Aug. 6, 2010) - Church leaders and civil society groups have reaffirmed their stand against large-scale mining in the Philippines.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Death of an Anti-Mining Activist: Impunity Lives On
Killed for his cause? Family and colleagues say activist Eliezer Billanes was killed for his anti-mining stance, but authorities say insurgents wanting to ‘take him out’ may have done it. (Photo courtesy of CathNews)KORONADAL CITY, Philippines (Philippine Human Rights Reporting / Apr. 10, 2009) - Does the killing of anti-mining activist Eliezer ‘Boy’ Billanes highlight irregular links between some mining companies and the Philippine military - or was he killed by insurgents because it was feared he was about to be turned into a so-called military asset and informer?.
Might it be he was slain for being a suspected communist agitator and therefore a potential enemy in the eyes of those who pursue and prosecute Oplan Bantay Laya 2?
Army spokesmen repeatedly state publicly how their rules of engagement and the law prohibit the targeting of unarmed non-combatants – but then privately claim that activists like Billanes belong to the insurgency’s so-called urban ‘white’ fronts which they insist are secretly directed by the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the National Democratic Front (NDF).
The New People’s Army (NPA) meantime charge the military with human rights abuses –but then break international humanitarian law themselves by abducting a 21-year-old store girl in Davao and threatening her with summary justice in front of so-called People’s Courts for being a ‘military spy.’
Will we ever know the truth and justice be served in the case of Billanes – or will his death and the claims and counter-claims surrounding it serve only to deepen mutual suspicion between the authorities and the army on one side and civil society, political opposition and the insurgency on the other?
Either way, it seems this latest killing in Central Mindanao only highlights the need for far more effective investigative mechanisms as a way to combat the ongoing climate of impunity that surrounds summary killings and underscores the wholly ineffective posturing of politicians. Some observers are already calling for prosecutors to be given powers to play a more active and investigative role along French magisterial lines. This however would require a serious commitment and change in the law.
Perhaps in these days of YouTube and the spread of viral videos, this climate will only be seriously challenged when a summary killing is safely captured and uploaded by a quick-witted witness using the technology now available on most mobile phones.
Whatever changes –if any happen – they will be too late for Billanes and so many others like him. Several activists have been gunned down in very similar circumstances in recent months in the Philippines with local human rights activists believing they are all being targeted as part of the military’s counter-insurgency campaign.
The accusations are strenuously denied by the military.
Billanes, 46, had been an activist all his adult life in South Cotabato and north Mindanao and while he wore many ‘different hats,’ he was best known as an anti-mining leader and head of the Anti-Development Aggression Coalition. He had only just come back from a meeting with locally billeted soldiers from the 27th Infantry Battalion to discuss his safety when he was gunned down on Osmena Street one block from the police station at around 4.30 p.m. on March 9.
He was shot once in the back of the neck by a pillion passenger on a Honda 200R sports motorcycle traveling against the one-way traffic.
Billanes had jokingly warned his wife of 21 years how he might not come back from a first planned meeting he had arranged with the local soldiers of Charlie Company the day before, on March 8.
“I’m afraid that if I will not come back, I will never see my beloved again,” Emelia, 43, recalled him saying from their small house in Barangay Mabini.
About 3,000 people, mostly rural folk, joined in laying Billanes to rest. BONG SARMIENTO Yet neither she nor their eldest son Jean Karl recalled him telling of any threats made against him. Jean Karl who works in Subic Bay and was back in town for his father’s funeral was adamant: “We spoke on the phone [the last time before his killing] and he just asked how I was doing. He did not tell me of any threats.”
But in the days before his death, Billanes had become concerned for his safety according to his friend and fellow activist Emily Lopez, Central Mindanao head of the human rights group Karapatan.
“Boy disclosed to me several days before his killing that he had information the military was looking to take him out,” Lopez claimed.
“That’s why he sought a meeting with the soldiers stationed in his village to speak about his security concerns,” Lopez told the Philippine Human Rights Reporting Project. “He thought the military were after him and didn’t want the scenario wherein they would barge into his house and take him,” she said.
Billanes arranged a meeting with Lieutenant Eduardo Florentino of the 27th Infantry Battalion on March 8. The lieutenant however was subsequently called away to a meeting with his superiors at battalion headquarters in Tupi, a 30-minute ride from here and the meeting was rescheduled for the following day. He was shot dead several hours after that meeting went ahead.
Florentino confirmed in a radio interview that the second meeting with Billanes went ahead - but strenuously denied the army was in any way responsible for his killing. So too did his superior Lieutenant Colonel Joshua Santiago, commander of the 27th Infantry Battalion in Tupi. A local council member who claimed to be present at the meeting subsequently told us that they had discussed the issue of the activist’s environmental advocacy.
Lt. Col. Santiago told the Philippine Human Rights Reporting Project that the military did not know Billanes before his death. But he added: “After he was killed, we conducted a background check [on him] and learned that he has connections with several progressive groups. We suspect that he has links with the communist rebels.”
Santiago said the army is conducting further investigations, focusing on the possibility that Billanes “could have been ordered killed by fellow militant members” because of “an internal conflict” or by insurgents “because the victim had a meeting with a military company.”
The lieutenant colonel added that one possibility was that those behind the killing may have thought that Billanes had “revealed something to the army.”
His widow however dismisses all suggestions that her husband was linked in any way to the insurgency.
“It’s impossible,” she says. “He was active in the city and provincial government [as representative of the non-government sector] and also with the church. If you speak about the truth, does that always make you NPA?” she asked rhetorically.
Emelia Billanes has no doubts that her husband was killed because of his anti-mining campaigns. Her sentiments are shared by others including Bishop Dinualdo Gutierrez of the Diocese of Marbel who delivered the requiem mass for Billanes on March 23.
“Boy was a ‘prophet, a voice of God.’ He was killed because of his advocacy against mining…he’s a protector of the integrity of creation,” the bishop said in his homily.
“Boy is not just a ‘martyr’ of South Cotabato but the whole country. His death now forms a river blood of fallen righteous leaders that almost flows throughout the whole Philippine archipelago,” Bayan Muna (People First) party list Rep. Satur Ocampo said during the Luksang Parangal (tribute) for the victim here a few days earlier on March 21.
Ocampo claims that Billanes is the 991st activist to be killed since 2001 – a number that is disputed by the authorities.
Activist life
Billanes spent his entire adult life as an activist and worked in Northern Mindanao before coming back to South Cotabato to become a common figure in street rallies denouncing corruption in government, human rights violations and promoting the rights of farmers and the rural poor.
At the time of his death, he was chairman of the Campaign against Mining Movement.
He was also executive director of the Samahan ng Magsasaka sa Timug Kutabato; a trustee of the Coalition of Social Development Organization of South Cotabato; and an active member of the local government development committees of Koronadal and the province of South Cotabato. He was also a founding member of the South Cotabato People’s Alliance for Nationalism and Democracy.
In recent years Billanes became increasingly known for his campaigns against a large-scale mining project in neighboring Tampakan town which is run by Sagittarius Mines, Inc. (SMI). SMI is in turn largely owned by Xstrata Copper, a subsidiary of Swiss global mining giant Xstrata Plc. The area supposedly contains the largest undeveloped copper deposits in all of South East Asia and the Western Pacific.
During his funeral cortege which passed through the city’s main streets towards the family graveyard in Barangay San Jose, placards opposing SMI operations were held up along the route.
An estimated 3,000 people went along the funeral caravan as his casket was paraded in town on board a yellow government-owned dump truck.
SMI categorically denies any knowledge of the killing of Billanes.
In a statement dated March 17, Mark Williams of SMI expressed the company’s sympathy and condolences to his family. At the same time, it insisted: “SMI wishes to confirm that the company has no connection to the death of Mr. Billanes. Any allegations linking SMI to this incident are totally untrue and without any basis in fact,” the British executive said.
“As many in the communities associated with the Tampakan mining project will attest, SMI has always respected and will continue to respect human rights and the rights of stakeholders to express their views,” he added.
Williams pointed out that his company had reached out to Billanes and his various through forums to listen to his opinions and concerns.
Karapatan regional head Lopez claims however that on at least two separate occasions in 2004 and 2007, Billanes told her that somebody claiming to be from the National Security Council and using the name “Raymond Guevarra” asked Billanes to stop his advocacy against local mining projects. She believes the name is probably an alias and claims the same man sent her a threatening text message.
“You mentioned my name during the NBI [National Bureau of Investigation] probe [in relation to the killing of Billanes],” she insists it said. “I have a friend in the NBI. I know you but you do not know me.”
The Philippine Human Rights Reporting Project was unable to track down anybody with the name Raymond Guevarra working for the authorities.
Attorney Ferdinand Balduman, senior agent of the NBI in South Cotabato-Sarangani-General Santos City (Socsargen) area and in-charge of the Billanes case says the name is not known to him.
“I don’t know this animal Guevarra. In our conversation with Emily [Lopez], she might have mentioned Guevarra but it did not enter my mind then. This guy is trying to mess up our investigation and I hope that Emily will talk with us again. Karapatan will be helpful in our investigation,” Balduman told the Philippine Human Rights Reporting Project.
Balduman said the NBI “has a group it suspects to be behind the killing of Billanes but declines to identify it so as not to jeopardize the ongoing investigation.
“The group we are suspecting is just near the area,” he said without elaboration.
Attorney Dante Bonoan, NBI-Socsargen chief, said he believes the killing of Billanes was well-planned. According to him NBI headquarters has ordered its local agents to speed up their probe.
“The killers were not ordinary but professional ones,” Bonoan said in a separate interview.
Bonoan said the motive that Billanes was killed because of his anti-mining stance is being considered.
Task Force Billanes
The local police are also conducting its own probe and have set up Task Force Billanes.
Senior Supt. Robert Kiunisala, South Cotabato police chief, said the task force is still facing a blank wall as to the identities of the killers and the masterminds.
Kiunisala too said investigations are focused on the angle that Billanes might have been killed because of his resistance to the mining project.
Police are trying to follow up reports that Billanes was offered “PhP 300,000 to one million pesos” (USD 6,250 to 20,833) to stop his anti-mining crusade.
Kiunisala also appealed to colleagues of Billanes, the Church and local media to provide the task force with any information that could lead to arrest of both perpetrators and those who might have ordered the killing.
With the authorities’ efforts to build up a case against the perpetrators still in the dark, Karapatan’s Lopez said that justice can still be served to Billanes if SMI abandons its mining project which has become a flashpoint between the military and the NPA.
John Arnaldo, SMI’s corporate communications manager, said the military presence in the mining site follows on from the host communities’ and local governments’ joint resolutions requesting military and police protection from insurgent attacks “which sowed fear and distrust among the communities, and hampered development activities in the area.”
On January 1 last year NPA rebels raided the base camp of SMI in Barangay Tablu, Tampakan and burned down equipment worth PhP 12 million (USD 250,000). The rebels also attacked a nearby military detachment. On January 29 this year, the communist guerillas also attacked the police station of Tampakan, wounding four people, including three policemen, “for being the protectors of SMI.”
The army has set up Task Force Kitaco for security purposes around the mining site and the towns of Kiblawan, Tampakan and Columbio. SMI funds a variety of local development projects in the towns.
But Arnaldo denies the military’s security measure is intentionally to protect the SMI mines.
“As SMI understands, Task Force Kitaco was organized in response to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s directive to improve security in the area,” the mining official said via e-mail.
He also categorically denied rumors circulating among some activist groups that retired Major General Jovito Palparan serves as the security consultant of the company.
Palparan has been widely accused of substantial human rights abuses during his command of infantry battalions in southern and central Luzon and eastern Visayas. He denies the claims. Recent attempts by the government to reappoint him to a position of power within the Dangerous Drugs Board however are believed to have been quietly dropped because of diplomatic and international pressure.
In retirement, Palparan has remained a controversial figure and was widely criticized for leading a unit of soldiers from the 24th Infantry Battalion in their take over of a mine in Zambales – an incident condemned by senior military commanders.
More likely than not, it is probably just another rumor sown and left to root given established facts in cases like these are so few and far between. As competing groups trade claim and counter claim, Emelia Billanes and her three children are left like so many other families wanting answers and all those responsible caught.
As they served up spaghetti to “celebrate” the college graduation of daughter Maria Lorena days after the burial, Mrs. Billanes pointed to her youngest son Jean Mikhail. Just four years old, he was still waiting for his father to come home. (Philippine Human Rights Reporting Project / Bong Sarmiento is a Mindanao journalist and a correspondent for the daily BusinessWorld and Alan Davis is Project Director of the Philippine Human Rights Reporting Project.)
Might it be he was slain for being a suspected communist agitator and therefore a potential enemy in the eyes of those who pursue and prosecute Oplan Bantay Laya 2?
Army spokesmen repeatedly state publicly how their rules of engagement and the law prohibit the targeting of unarmed non-combatants – but then privately claim that activists like Billanes belong to the insurgency’s so-called urban ‘white’ fronts which they insist are secretly directed by the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the National Democratic Front (NDF).
The New People’s Army (NPA) meantime charge the military with human rights abuses –but then break international humanitarian law themselves by abducting a 21-year-old store girl in Davao and threatening her with summary justice in front of so-called People’s Courts for being a ‘military spy.’
Will we ever know the truth and justice be served in the case of Billanes – or will his death and the claims and counter-claims surrounding it serve only to deepen mutual suspicion between the authorities and the army on one side and civil society, political opposition and the insurgency on the other?
Either way, it seems this latest killing in Central Mindanao only highlights the need for far more effective investigative mechanisms as a way to combat the ongoing climate of impunity that surrounds summary killings and underscores the wholly ineffective posturing of politicians. Some observers are already calling for prosecutors to be given powers to play a more active and investigative role along French magisterial lines. This however would require a serious commitment and change in the law.
Perhaps in these days of YouTube and the spread of viral videos, this climate will only be seriously challenged when a summary killing is safely captured and uploaded by a quick-witted witness using the technology now available on most mobile phones.
Whatever changes –if any happen – they will be too late for Billanes and so many others like him. Several activists have been gunned down in very similar circumstances in recent months in the Philippines with local human rights activists believing they are all being targeted as part of the military’s counter-insurgency campaign.
The accusations are strenuously denied by the military.
Billanes, 46, had been an activist all his adult life in South Cotabato and north Mindanao and while he wore many ‘different hats,’ he was best known as an anti-mining leader and head of the Anti-Development Aggression Coalition. He had only just come back from a meeting with locally billeted soldiers from the 27th Infantry Battalion to discuss his safety when he was gunned down on Osmena Street one block from the police station at around 4.30 p.m. on March 9.
He was shot once in the back of the neck by a pillion passenger on a Honda 200R sports motorcycle traveling against the one-way traffic.
Billanes had jokingly warned his wife of 21 years how he might not come back from a first planned meeting he had arranged with the local soldiers of Charlie Company the day before, on March 8.
“I’m afraid that if I will not come back, I will never see my beloved again,” Emelia, 43, recalled him saying from their small house in Barangay Mabini.
About 3,000 people, mostly rural folk, joined in laying Billanes to rest. BONG SARMIENTO Yet neither she nor their eldest son Jean Karl recalled him telling of any threats made against him. Jean Karl who works in Subic Bay and was back in town for his father’s funeral was adamant: “We spoke on the phone [the last time before his killing] and he just asked how I was doing. He did not tell me of any threats.”
But in the days before his death, Billanes had become concerned for his safety according to his friend and fellow activist Emily Lopez, Central Mindanao head of the human rights group Karapatan.
“Boy disclosed to me several days before his killing that he had information the military was looking to take him out,” Lopez claimed.
“That’s why he sought a meeting with the soldiers stationed in his village to speak about his security concerns,” Lopez told the Philippine Human Rights Reporting Project. “He thought the military were after him and didn’t want the scenario wherein they would barge into his house and take him,” she said.
Billanes arranged a meeting with Lieutenant Eduardo Florentino of the 27th Infantry Battalion on March 8. The lieutenant however was subsequently called away to a meeting with his superiors at battalion headquarters in Tupi, a 30-minute ride from here and the meeting was rescheduled for the following day. He was shot dead several hours after that meeting went ahead.
Florentino confirmed in a radio interview that the second meeting with Billanes went ahead - but strenuously denied the army was in any way responsible for his killing. So too did his superior Lieutenant Colonel Joshua Santiago, commander of the 27th Infantry Battalion in Tupi. A local council member who claimed to be present at the meeting subsequently told us that they had discussed the issue of the activist’s environmental advocacy.
Lt. Col. Santiago told the Philippine Human Rights Reporting Project that the military did not know Billanes before his death. But he added: “After he was killed, we conducted a background check [on him] and learned that he has connections with several progressive groups. We suspect that he has links with the communist rebels.”
Santiago said the army is conducting further investigations, focusing on the possibility that Billanes “could have been ordered killed by fellow militant members” because of “an internal conflict” or by insurgents “because the victim had a meeting with a military company.”
The lieutenant colonel added that one possibility was that those behind the killing may have thought that Billanes had “revealed something to the army.”
His widow however dismisses all suggestions that her husband was linked in any way to the insurgency.
“It’s impossible,” she says. “He was active in the city and provincial government [as representative of the non-government sector] and also with the church. If you speak about the truth, does that always make you NPA?” she asked rhetorically.
Emelia Billanes has no doubts that her husband was killed because of his anti-mining campaigns. Her sentiments are shared by others including Bishop Dinualdo Gutierrez of the Diocese of Marbel who delivered the requiem mass for Billanes on March 23.
“Boy was a ‘prophet, a voice of God.’ He was killed because of his advocacy against mining…he’s a protector of the integrity of creation,” the bishop said in his homily.
“Boy is not just a ‘martyr’ of South Cotabato but the whole country. His death now forms a river blood of fallen righteous leaders that almost flows throughout the whole Philippine archipelago,” Bayan Muna (People First) party list Rep. Satur Ocampo said during the Luksang Parangal (tribute) for the victim here a few days earlier on March 21.
Ocampo claims that Billanes is the 991st activist to be killed since 2001 – a number that is disputed by the authorities.
Activist life
Billanes spent his entire adult life as an activist and worked in Northern Mindanao before coming back to South Cotabato to become a common figure in street rallies denouncing corruption in government, human rights violations and promoting the rights of farmers and the rural poor.
At the time of his death, he was chairman of the Campaign against Mining Movement.
He was also executive director of the Samahan ng Magsasaka sa Timug Kutabato; a trustee of the Coalition of Social Development Organization of South Cotabato; and an active member of the local government development committees of Koronadal and the province of South Cotabato. He was also a founding member of the South Cotabato People’s Alliance for Nationalism and Democracy.
In recent years Billanes became increasingly known for his campaigns against a large-scale mining project in neighboring Tampakan town which is run by Sagittarius Mines, Inc. (SMI). SMI is in turn largely owned by Xstrata Copper, a subsidiary of Swiss global mining giant Xstrata Plc. The area supposedly contains the largest undeveloped copper deposits in all of South East Asia and the Western Pacific.
During his funeral cortege which passed through the city’s main streets towards the family graveyard in Barangay San Jose, placards opposing SMI operations were held up along the route.
An estimated 3,000 people went along the funeral caravan as his casket was paraded in town on board a yellow government-owned dump truck.
SMI categorically denies any knowledge of the killing of Billanes.
In a statement dated March 17, Mark Williams of SMI expressed the company’s sympathy and condolences to his family. At the same time, it insisted: “SMI wishes to confirm that the company has no connection to the death of Mr. Billanes. Any allegations linking SMI to this incident are totally untrue and without any basis in fact,” the British executive said.
“As many in the communities associated with the Tampakan mining project will attest, SMI has always respected and will continue to respect human rights and the rights of stakeholders to express their views,” he added.
Williams pointed out that his company had reached out to Billanes and his various through forums to listen to his opinions and concerns.
Karapatan regional head Lopez claims however that on at least two separate occasions in 2004 and 2007, Billanes told her that somebody claiming to be from the National Security Council and using the name “Raymond Guevarra” asked Billanes to stop his advocacy against local mining projects. She believes the name is probably an alias and claims the same man sent her a threatening text message.
“You mentioned my name during the NBI [National Bureau of Investigation] probe [in relation to the killing of Billanes],” she insists it said. “I have a friend in the NBI. I know you but you do not know me.”
The Philippine Human Rights Reporting Project was unable to track down anybody with the name Raymond Guevarra working for the authorities.
Attorney Ferdinand Balduman, senior agent of the NBI in South Cotabato-Sarangani-General Santos City (Socsargen) area and in-charge of the Billanes case says the name is not known to him.
“I don’t know this animal Guevarra. In our conversation with Emily [Lopez], she might have mentioned Guevarra but it did not enter my mind then. This guy is trying to mess up our investigation and I hope that Emily will talk with us again. Karapatan will be helpful in our investigation,” Balduman told the Philippine Human Rights Reporting Project.
Balduman said the NBI “has a group it suspects to be behind the killing of Billanes but declines to identify it so as not to jeopardize the ongoing investigation.
“The group we are suspecting is just near the area,” he said without elaboration.
Attorney Dante Bonoan, NBI-Socsargen chief, said he believes the killing of Billanes was well-planned. According to him NBI headquarters has ordered its local agents to speed up their probe.
“The killers were not ordinary but professional ones,” Bonoan said in a separate interview.
Bonoan said the motive that Billanes was killed because of his anti-mining stance is being considered.
Task Force Billanes
The local police are also conducting its own probe and have set up Task Force Billanes.
Senior Supt. Robert Kiunisala, South Cotabato police chief, said the task force is still facing a blank wall as to the identities of the killers and the masterminds.
Kiunisala too said investigations are focused on the angle that Billanes might have been killed because of his resistance to the mining project.
Police are trying to follow up reports that Billanes was offered “PhP 300,000 to one million pesos” (USD 6,250 to 20,833) to stop his anti-mining crusade.
Kiunisala also appealed to colleagues of Billanes, the Church and local media to provide the task force with any information that could lead to arrest of both perpetrators and those who might have ordered the killing.
With the authorities’ efforts to build up a case against the perpetrators still in the dark, Karapatan’s Lopez said that justice can still be served to Billanes if SMI abandons its mining project which has become a flashpoint between the military and the NPA.
John Arnaldo, SMI’s corporate communications manager, said the military presence in the mining site follows on from the host communities’ and local governments’ joint resolutions requesting military and police protection from insurgent attacks “which sowed fear and distrust among the communities, and hampered development activities in the area.”
On January 1 last year NPA rebels raided the base camp of SMI in Barangay Tablu, Tampakan and burned down equipment worth PhP 12 million (USD 250,000). The rebels also attacked a nearby military detachment. On January 29 this year, the communist guerillas also attacked the police station of Tampakan, wounding four people, including three policemen, “for being the protectors of SMI.”
The army has set up Task Force Kitaco for security purposes around the mining site and the towns of Kiblawan, Tampakan and Columbio. SMI funds a variety of local development projects in the towns.
But Arnaldo denies the military’s security measure is intentionally to protect the SMI mines.
“As SMI understands, Task Force Kitaco was organized in response to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s directive to improve security in the area,” the mining official said via e-mail.
He also categorically denied rumors circulating among some activist groups that retired Major General Jovito Palparan serves as the security consultant of the company.
Palparan has been widely accused of substantial human rights abuses during his command of infantry battalions in southern and central Luzon and eastern Visayas. He denies the claims. Recent attempts by the government to reappoint him to a position of power within the Dangerous Drugs Board however are believed to have been quietly dropped because of diplomatic and international pressure.
In retirement, Palparan has remained a controversial figure and was widely criticized for leading a unit of soldiers from the 24th Infantry Battalion in their take over of a mine in Zambales – an incident condemned by senior military commanders.
More likely than not, it is probably just another rumor sown and left to root given established facts in cases like these are so few and far between. As competing groups trade claim and counter claim, Emelia Billanes and her three children are left like so many other families wanting answers and all those responsible caught.
As they served up spaghetti to “celebrate” the college graduation of daughter Maria Lorena days after the burial, Mrs. Billanes pointed to her youngest son Jean Mikhail. Just four years old, he was still waiting for his father to come home. (Philippine Human Rights Reporting Project / Bong Sarmiento is a Mindanao journalist and a correspondent for the daily BusinessWorld and Alan Davis is Project Director of the Philippine Human Rights Reporting Project.)
Saturday, February 07, 2009
Foreign environmental experts recommend repeal of Mining Law
QUEZON CITY, Philippines — According to environmental scientist Dr Robert Goodland and Mr Clive Montgomery Wicks, the Philippine government should repeal the Mining Law and immediately and replace it with legislation which is consistent with the Philippine constitution, applies the Precautionary Principle and adequately protects human rights, indigenous peoples rights and the environment while regulating mining for public interest.
The Mining Law otherwise known as Republic Act 7942, was passed in 1995 and has since been the subject of much criticism from major sectors of Philippine society.
The experts made the recommendation in their report, Philippines: Mining or Food, which looked at six proposed mining sites and examined their potential impact on the ecology and food security of the Philippines which was launched February 4 at Balay Kalinaw in University of the Philippines Diliman campus.
Dr Goodland, who worked as a senior environmental adviser for the World Bank for 23 years and Mr Clive Montgomery Wicks, who worked for the Worldwide Fund for Nature and is currently Vice-Chair of the IUCN Commission on Environmental, Economic and Social Policy (IUCN-CEESP), were commissioned by the London-based Working Group on Mining in the Philippines February 2008 to visit the country in order to investigate more fully, document and map some key sites targeted for mining.
According to the authors of the report, the existing Mining Law "favors foreign or multinational corporations (MNCs) with benefits such as tax holidays and repatriation of income to their home countries and is economically disadvantageous to the Philippine people as the Philippine state has no share as owner in trust of the resources."
"In addition mining MNCs are allowed access to vast tract of land under the financial and technical assistance agreement scheme that accompanies the act, leaving little rights to so-called "surface owners" whom MNCs often forcefully evict from their lands," the report states.
"The report confirms what indigenous peoples, environmentalists and other sectors of civil society have been saying all along: that the Mining Act of 1995 is hopelessly skewed in favor of large, foreign mining interests at the expense of local communities and the national interest," said Judith Pasimio, of the Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center (LRC), a legal and policy research NGO asserted. "The flaws in the current mining law cannot be remedied by mere amendments. It must be scrapped now before it does even more damage."
LRC is currently drafting an alternative mining legislation to replace the existing law. (Rovik Obanil)
The Mining Law otherwise known as Republic Act 7942, was passed in 1995 and has since been the subject of much criticism from major sectors of Philippine society.
The experts made the recommendation in their report, Philippines: Mining or Food, which looked at six proposed mining sites and examined their potential impact on the ecology and food security of the Philippines which was launched February 4 at Balay Kalinaw in University of the Philippines Diliman campus.
Dr Goodland, who worked as a senior environmental adviser for the World Bank for 23 years and Mr Clive Montgomery Wicks, who worked for the Worldwide Fund for Nature and is currently Vice-Chair of the IUCN Commission on Environmental, Economic and Social Policy (IUCN-CEESP), were commissioned by the London-based Working Group on Mining in the Philippines February 2008 to visit the country in order to investigate more fully, document and map some key sites targeted for mining.
According to the authors of the report, the existing Mining Law "favors foreign or multinational corporations (MNCs) with benefits such as tax holidays and repatriation of income to their home countries and is economically disadvantageous to the Philippine people as the Philippine state has no share as owner in trust of the resources."
"In addition mining MNCs are allowed access to vast tract of land under the financial and technical assistance agreement scheme that accompanies the act, leaving little rights to so-called "surface owners" whom MNCs often forcefully evict from their lands," the report states.
"The report confirms what indigenous peoples, environmentalists and other sectors of civil society have been saying all along: that the Mining Act of 1995 is hopelessly skewed in favor of large, foreign mining interests at the expense of local communities and the national interest," said Judith Pasimio, of the Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center (LRC), a legal and policy research NGO asserted. "The flaws in the current mining law cannot be remedied by mere amendments. It must be scrapped now before it does even more damage."
LRC is currently drafting an alternative mining legislation to replace the existing law. (Rovik Obanil)
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Photo: Anti-Mining Activists March In Mindanao
Anti-mining activists and church leaders march at downtown Cagayan de Oro City on Thursday, October 23, 2008 to protest the continued entry of mining operations in the ancestral domain of the indigenous peoples in Mindanao. The protest is part of the Integrity of Creation Solidarity week that kicked-off October 19 and will culminate on Oct. 24.
The activity is a gathering of communities affected by mining and support groups to discuss the issues affecting their communities. The Grupong Laya also performed before a huge crowd at Gaston Park in Cagayan De Oro during the Yuta ug Kalinaw Concert in support to the cause of the protesters. (AKP Images / Keith Bacongco)
Saturday, July 05, 2008
Mindanao Bishops, Clergy Reiterate Opposition To Mining: CBCP
ILIGAN CITY, Philippines - The Mindanao-Bishops and Priests Congress reiterated their opposition to mining in the Philippines as they reaffirmed their previous stand for the repeal of the Mining Act of 1995.
In a phone interview with CBCPNews, Iligan Chancery Secretary Sr. Marilyn Montalla, MSOLTC said the Mindanao Bishops and Clergy has come up with their statement on the issue of Mining in the latest 35th Diocesan Clergy of Mindanao Congress (DCM) held in Iligan City last February.
More 400 delegates representing various archdioceses, dioceses and prelatures of Mindanao signed the statement.
The joint statement disclosed: “We, the Bishops and Clergy of Mindanao collectively challenge the Philippine Government’s aggressive promotion of large scale mining as a flagship program to boost the country’s economy.”
DCM delegates added in 1998, the CBCP issued a statement of concern on the Mining Act of 1995. On January 29, 2006, the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) issued another statement on Mining Issues and Concerns. There have been other statements and position papers issued by regional groupings of bishops in between those two major statements of the CBCP.
The Mindanao bishops and priests insisted that they do not subscribe to the DENR’s reference to sustainable mining.
“We believe that mining can never be sustainable. It is a highly extractive industry and remnants of past mining projects and abandoned mines which can be found in many parts of the country can speak for itself,” the delegates stressed.
The Mindanao prelates and clerics added there have been a number of mine-related tragedies and disasters since the passage of the Mining Act of 1995. The collapse of the tailings dam of Marcopper Mining Ltd spilling millions of tons of toxic waste into the island’s river and sea haunts residents to this day.
DCM delegates further said the series of human rights abuses and displacement of Indigenous peoples in Canatuan. Siocon, Zamboanga del Norte, the site of a gold mine operation of TVI Resource Development and the mine spills by Lafayette Philippines, Inc. in Rapu-Rapu, Albay and its two subsidiaries Rapu-Rapu Processing, are just few examples of how the mining industry destroy God’s creation.
The prelates and priests clarified that they understand the government’s desire to reduce poverty but never at the expense of lives and properties of ordinary Filipinos. The delegates were unanimous in saying there are other sources of livelihood that are less destructive and far more productive than mining that the government can resort to in its effort to alleviate poverty.
They said the Philippines is basically agricultural country and have fertile lands and seas that are abundant in marine resources. Yet in spite of all these, the Philippines remains poor and the people remain deprived of food and other basic necessities.
The Mindanao bishops and priests called on the government to redirect its agenda to food security and development an agri-aqua based economy instead of the highly extractive industry like mining.
They also encouraged the church, business and other sectors to be more conscious of their respective “social responsibility” and together direct their activities towards the common good and the attainment of sustainable development.
The Mindanao prelates and clerics urged the people to support and to understand in the struggle against large-scale mining and the blatant exploitation of indigenous peoples.
“We manifest through this statement that we in Mindanao consider it our duty and responsibility to protect God’s creation as a sign of our faith and love for our creator, the Supreme being, ‘from whom all good things come from,’” the Mindanao bishop and priests concluded their statement. (Wendell Talibong)
Friday, March 07, 2008
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Photo: Filipinos Protest BHB Billiton Mining In South
Villagers oppose stage a rally Monday, March 3, 2008 in front of the BHP Billiton's office in Mati town in Davao Oriental province to protest its mining operation in Mount Hamiguitan, a protected area and considered as a sacred mountain, in the southern Philippines. BHP Billiton is the worlds largest mining company as a result of a merge between Australia's BHP and the UK's Billiton. (Photo by Keith Bacongco/LRC-KSK)
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Stay Away From Ancestral Lands, Rebels Warn Mining Firms In Mindanao
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Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Philippine Rebels Target Miners, Foiling Drive for $6.7 Billion: Bloomberg
MANILA, Philippines - Jasper, a 28-year-old medic in the New People's Army, says he's been fighting Philippine government forces since he was 13. Now he has a new enemy: international mining companies.
The military wing of the Philippine Communist Party last month vowed to increase armed and unarmed efforts to prevent miners such as Xstrata Plc from "plundering" the country's resources. Last week, the communists rejected President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's offer of an amnesty for the rebels.
"Companies or even military detachments that are attacked deserve to be punished," said Jasper, who asked to be identified only by his nickname for fear of being arrested. "They are all guilty of violating human rights."
Rebel defiance may stall efforts by overseas miners such as Xstrata and OceanaGold Corp. to develop copper, gold and nickel deposits the government has valued at as much as $1 trillion.
Safety concerns in communist-held areas have helped limit foreign investment in 23 mining projects to a 10th of the $6.7 billion Arroyo targeted in 2004, according to Bloomberg calculations.
"Those businesses that are intending to set up mining operations will be in serious trouble,'' said Rey Trillana, a political scientist at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila. "The New People's Army has the capability to stage attacks. They can disrupt investments, threaten businesses."
In April, about 50 rebels attacked a gold mine being developed by CGA Mining Ltd., a Perth, Australia-based company, in central Masbate province. A policeman who chased them was killed.
The rebels set fire to old building equipment and planted home-made bombs, later cleared by military, said Johan Raadsma, regional manager at Philippine Gold Ltd., a CGA unit.
The attack was "a wake-up call for us," Raadsma said in April. "We have not been diligent in communicating to all of the Masbate people the various things we've done for the community."
CGA will invest 10.6 billion pesos ($226 million) in the mine, including 169 million pesos for community projects, said Chief Executive Officer Michael Carrick.
The rebels "seem to not believe that the mining industry can make a difference in the development of the countryside and alleviating poverty," said Nelia Halcon, vice president of the Philippine Chamber of Mines, which represents more than 100 companies.
Overseas miners abandoned Philippine exploration projects in the 1980s because of declining metals prices. Arroyo vowed to lure them back in 2004 after the Supreme Court upheld a law that allows foreigners to own 100 percent of mining companies.
So far, seven of the government's 23 priority mining projects are being developed by international companies. Zug, Switzerland-based Xstrata and OceanaGold, a Melbourne gold miner, are the only two with market values of more than $130 million.
Xstrata hired experts to assess security risks to employees before buying 63 percent of the country's biggest copper and gold mine on southern Mindanao island in December, said Neal O'Connor, general counsel at Xstrata Copper in Brisbane, Australia.
"The bottom line is, we were aware of the region we were going into," O'Connor said.
A Maoist group, the New People's Army has 27 battalions of full-time fighters, according to the Communist Party's Web site. The U.S. State Department, which in 2004 named the Communist Party and the New People's Army as terrorist groups, estimates the rebel forces at 10,000.
Philippine authorities blame them for 40,000 deaths, mostly of soldiers, since the rebellion began in 1969. The Communist Party says 60,000 have died during military and police campaigns.
The rebels aim to protect Filipinos from exploitation by "foreign monopoly capitalism, domestic feudalism and bureaucrat capitalism," according to the Web site.
Fighters move between small camps in the mountains, where the Philippine army can't penetrate, Trillana said. The rebels flourish among the poor in a country where 40 percent of the 87 million people live on less than $2 a day, he said.
"The NPA was founded on a legitimate ideology," Trillana said.
"Some segments of the movement have resorted to extortion and kidnapping, but it's hard to label them a terrorist group."
Jasper said he was trained from age 13 to provide medical care to the poor. Four years after he was captured by the military, Jasper is heading back to the mountains. Rebel spokesmen didn't respond to calls and e-mails seeking comment.
Wherever overseas miners start operations, the New People's Army emerges, said Jogy Fojas, deputy chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Members charge a "revolutionary tax" to let companies operate without interference, Fojas said. Demands are accompanied by bomb threats.
"Terror is the nature of their activities," Fojas said.
The best weapon against the rebels is to let local residents share the benefits of mining, said Leuvino Valencia, a vice president in the Philippines of Gatwick, England-based G4S Plc, the world's second-largest security company.
"The higher your spending on community development, the lower the risk of an attack and the less you need to spend on security," said Valencia, whose company advises some miners in the Philippines.
"That's what we always tell clients."(LuziAnn Javier/Bloomberg.com)
The military wing of the Philippine Communist Party last month vowed to increase armed and unarmed efforts to prevent miners such as Xstrata Plc from "plundering" the country's resources. Last week, the communists rejected President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's offer of an amnesty for the rebels.
"Companies or even military detachments that are attacked deserve to be punished," said Jasper, who asked to be identified only by his nickname for fear of being arrested. "They are all guilty of violating human rights."
Rebel defiance may stall efforts by overseas miners such as Xstrata and OceanaGold Corp. to develop copper, gold and nickel deposits the government has valued at as much as $1 trillion.
Safety concerns in communist-held areas have helped limit foreign investment in 23 mining projects to a 10th of the $6.7 billion Arroyo targeted in 2004, according to Bloomberg calculations.
"Those businesses that are intending to set up mining operations will be in serious trouble,'' said Rey Trillana, a political scientist at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila. "The New People's Army has the capability to stage attacks. They can disrupt investments, threaten businesses."
In April, about 50 rebels attacked a gold mine being developed by CGA Mining Ltd., a Perth, Australia-based company, in central Masbate province. A policeman who chased them was killed.
The rebels set fire to old building equipment and planted home-made bombs, later cleared by military, said Johan Raadsma, regional manager at Philippine Gold Ltd., a CGA unit.
The attack was "a wake-up call for us," Raadsma said in April. "We have not been diligent in communicating to all of the Masbate people the various things we've done for the community."
CGA will invest 10.6 billion pesos ($226 million) in the mine, including 169 million pesos for community projects, said Chief Executive Officer Michael Carrick.
The rebels "seem to not believe that the mining industry can make a difference in the development of the countryside and alleviating poverty," said Nelia Halcon, vice president of the Philippine Chamber of Mines, which represents more than 100 companies.
Overseas miners abandoned Philippine exploration projects in the 1980s because of declining metals prices. Arroyo vowed to lure them back in 2004 after the Supreme Court upheld a law that allows foreigners to own 100 percent of mining companies.
So far, seven of the government's 23 priority mining projects are being developed by international companies. Zug, Switzerland-based Xstrata and OceanaGold, a Melbourne gold miner, are the only two with market values of more than $130 million.
Xstrata hired experts to assess security risks to employees before buying 63 percent of the country's biggest copper and gold mine on southern Mindanao island in December, said Neal O'Connor, general counsel at Xstrata Copper in Brisbane, Australia.
"The bottom line is, we were aware of the region we were going into," O'Connor said.
A Maoist group, the New People's Army has 27 battalions of full-time fighters, according to the Communist Party's Web site. The U.S. State Department, which in 2004 named the Communist Party and the New People's Army as terrorist groups, estimates the rebel forces at 10,000.
Philippine authorities blame them for 40,000 deaths, mostly of soldiers, since the rebellion began in 1969. The Communist Party says 60,000 have died during military and police campaigns.
The rebels aim to protect Filipinos from exploitation by "foreign monopoly capitalism, domestic feudalism and bureaucrat capitalism," according to the Web site.
Fighters move between small camps in the mountains, where the Philippine army can't penetrate, Trillana said. The rebels flourish among the poor in a country where 40 percent of the 87 million people live on less than $2 a day, he said.
"The NPA was founded on a legitimate ideology," Trillana said.
"Some segments of the movement have resorted to extortion and kidnapping, but it's hard to label them a terrorist group."
Jasper said he was trained from age 13 to provide medical care to the poor. Four years after he was captured by the military, Jasper is heading back to the mountains. Rebel spokesmen didn't respond to calls and e-mails seeking comment.
Wherever overseas miners start operations, the New People's Army emerges, said Jogy Fojas, deputy chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Members charge a "revolutionary tax" to let companies operate without interference, Fojas said. Demands are accompanied by bomb threats.
"Terror is the nature of their activities," Fojas said.
The best weapon against the rebels is to let local residents share the benefits of mining, said Leuvino Valencia, a vice president in the Philippines of Gatwick, England-based G4S Plc, the world's second-largest security company.
"The higher your spending on community development, the lower the risk of an attack and the less you need to spend on security," said Valencia, whose company advises some miners in the Philippines.
"That's what we always tell clients."(LuziAnn Javier/Bloomberg.com)
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Tribesmen Say Mining Destroy Sacred Lands In Mindanao
DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / 15 Aug) – Lumad tribesmen on Wednesday slaughtered a white chicken in ritual to protest the destruction of their ancestral land by mining activities in the southern Philippines.
Datu Monico Cayog, the group’s leader, said mining activities have destroyed their lands and polluted rivers and mountain springs in Mindanao where large scale mining are going on.
The indigenous people, composed mostly of Manobo, Bagobo, Umayamnon, Blaan Lumad tribes, are members of the Confederation of Lumad Organizations in Southern Mindanao under the larger group called PASAKA.
They were protesting also the government’s liberal mining policies and accused authorities of human rights violations against the indigenous tribes.
“The white chicken symbolizes the peace that we demand, while the blood symbolizes death to all destructive projects in their communities, particularly mining, logging, dams and militarization that resulted in uncountable human rights abuses perpetrated against the Lumads,” Cayog said.
He said human rights abuses perpetrated against indigenous tribes escalate due to mining activities and other government projects in their communities without public consultations.
“These projects are coupled with militarization, since the government knows that the Lumads protest these destructive projects. Genuine development will only be achieved thought nationalized industrialization which is free from the encroachment of foreign or local firms which only want to plunder our natural resources,” he said.
Norma Capuyan, chairperson of the Apo Sandawa Lumadnong Panaghiusa Cotabato (ASLPC), also denounced the transfer of the Philippine Mining Development Corporation (PMDC) in the direct control of President Gloria Arroyo.
“Out of the 18 mining priority areas in Mindanao, at least 16 are inside ancestral domains of the indigenous peoples. The influx of mining companies is thus tantamount to the death of indigenous communities which depend greatly on their ancestral land for survival,” Capuyan said in a statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner.
Capuyan said that aside from mining activities, commercial and illegal logging also caused the deforestation of many Lumad communities in Mindanao, such as Ata-Manobo ancestral lands in Davao Del Norte province.
She said the ongoing construction of the Tudaya hydro-power plant in Mount Apo, a protected area, is also threatening the denudation of Bagobo and Manobo communities.
Dolphing Ogan, secretary general of the group KALUMARAN, a federation of Lumad organizations in Mindanao, said the deteriorating situation has affected the political, socio-economic and rich culture of the indigenous people.
“The Lumad people are suffering from blatant neglect from the government due to the absence of education, health and other basic social services in our communities.”
“We are grabbed of our ancestral land which is the material base of our socio-cultural, economic, and political life. Appallingly, we are also tagged as rebels or enemies of state every time we defend the mere right to our land and life,” Ogan said.
There are at least 18 indigenous tribes in Mindanao.
Datu Monico Cayog, the group’s leader, said mining activities have destroyed their lands and polluted rivers and mountain springs in Mindanao where large scale mining are going on.
The indigenous people, composed mostly of Manobo, Bagobo, Umayamnon, Blaan Lumad tribes, are members of the Confederation of Lumad Organizations in Southern Mindanao under the larger group called PASAKA.
They were protesting also the government’s liberal mining policies and accused authorities of human rights violations against the indigenous tribes.
“The white chicken symbolizes the peace that we demand, while the blood symbolizes death to all destructive projects in their communities, particularly mining, logging, dams and militarization that resulted in uncountable human rights abuses perpetrated against the Lumads,” Cayog said.
He said human rights abuses perpetrated against indigenous tribes escalate due to mining activities and other government projects in their communities without public consultations.
“These projects are coupled with militarization, since the government knows that the Lumads protest these destructive projects. Genuine development will only be achieved thought nationalized industrialization which is free from the encroachment of foreign or local firms which only want to plunder our natural resources,” he said.
Norma Capuyan, chairperson of the Apo Sandawa Lumadnong Panaghiusa Cotabato (ASLPC), also denounced the transfer of the Philippine Mining Development Corporation (PMDC) in the direct control of President Gloria Arroyo.
“Out of the 18 mining priority areas in Mindanao, at least 16 are inside ancestral domains of the indigenous peoples. The influx of mining companies is thus tantamount to the death of indigenous communities which depend greatly on their ancestral land for survival,” Capuyan said in a statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner.
Capuyan said that aside from mining activities, commercial and illegal logging also caused the deforestation of many Lumad communities in Mindanao, such as Ata-Manobo ancestral lands in Davao Del Norte province.
She said the ongoing construction of the Tudaya hydro-power plant in Mount Apo, a protected area, is also threatening the denudation of Bagobo and Manobo communities.
Dolphing Ogan, secretary general of the group KALUMARAN, a federation of Lumad organizations in Mindanao, said the deteriorating situation has affected the political, socio-economic and rich culture of the indigenous people.
“The Lumad people are suffering from blatant neglect from the government due to the absence of education, health and other basic social services in our communities.”
“We are grabbed of our ancestral land which is the material base of our socio-cultural, economic, and political life. Appallingly, we are also tagged as rebels or enemies of state every time we defend the mere right to our land and life,” Ogan said.
There are at least 18 indigenous tribes in Mindanao.
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
New Mining Firm To Explore Zamboanga For Nickel, Cobalt
ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / 06 Jun) – A mining firm is to begin exploration project in the southern Philippine port city of Zamboanga, officials said.
Officials said Hard Rock Mineral Trading Inc. has been granted a Mineral Production Sharing Agreement for the exploration and development of nickel and cobalt deposits in Zamboanga.
Environment Secretary Angelo Reyes said Hard Rock Mineral Trading Inc. is one of several firms granted mineral production sharing agreements and exploration permits.
The Philippines is expected to get some P224 million in investments from these firms in the next two years.
The other mining firms are the Ivanhoe Philippines Inc., Colossal Mining Corp., East Coast Mineral Resources Co. Inc., Cagdianao Mining Corp., Holcim Philippines Inc., Apex Mining Co. Inc., Norte de Oro Mining and Industrial Corp., and Berong Nickel Corp.
Besides the Hard Rock Mineral Trading Inc., Linktone International Mining Corp. is also mining iron ore in Zamboanga City. (Mindanao Examiner)
Officials said Hard Rock Mineral Trading Inc. has been granted a Mineral Production Sharing Agreement for the exploration and development of nickel and cobalt deposits in Zamboanga.
Environment Secretary Angelo Reyes said Hard Rock Mineral Trading Inc. is one of several firms granted mineral production sharing agreements and exploration permits.
The Philippines is expected to get some P224 million in investments from these firms in the next two years.
The other mining firms are the Ivanhoe Philippines Inc., Colossal Mining Corp., East Coast Mineral Resources Co. Inc., Cagdianao Mining Corp., Holcim Philippines Inc., Apex Mining Co. Inc., Norte de Oro Mining and Industrial Corp., and Berong Nickel Corp.
Besides the Hard Rock Mineral Trading Inc., Linktone International Mining Corp. is also mining iron ore in Zamboanga City. (Mindanao Examiner)
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
TVI Nets C$2.4 Million Q1 In 2007
ZAMBOANGA CITY - Canadian mining firm, TVI Resource Development Inc. (TVIRD) has reported a C$2.4 million (P102 million) net income in the first quarter of this year, up by 67% compared to the same period of last year with C$1.4 million.
Based on its quarterly report, the mineral company also posted total operating revenue of $10.5 million compared with $8.8 million in 2006 and cash flow from operations of $1.3 million compared with $2.7 million.
The turnaround was accounted for largely by positive effect of the company's drilling and gold extraction performances demonstrated in April, during which a daily average of 207 gold equivalent ounces ("AuEqOzs") was produced, which was significantly higher than the average daily production of 148 AuEqOzs for the first quarter.
Increased daily throughput and metal production is expected to lower overall costs of metal produced (on a unit of production basis), thereby increasing overall financial performance, the company said.
"Our solid financial performance for the first quarter of 2007 has provided a continuing platform for growth and expansion," said Clifford James, TVI's President said in a statement.
"First quarter earnings and cash flow financed a dramatically expanded exploration program, compared with the same period last year, as well as initial expenditures on the Sulphide Expansion Project, which is expected to be the cash flow engine for TVI for next year and for years to come," he added.
TVI is currently operating in Canatuan project located in the town of Siocon in Zamboanga Del Norte, which is the first foreign-funded mining project in the Philippines in nearly four decades.
The Canadian company acquired its mineral production sharing agreement on September 1996, with mining tenements of 508 hectares. Mining of gold and silver-bearing raw gossans ore began in May of 2004.
The mining company is now on the expansion mode acquiring more mining lands in the peninsula.
TVI Pacific, a publicly listed firm in Canada, has mining operations in the Philippines and China. It is also involved in independent drilling operation and holds minor stakes in Lafayette Mining's troubled Rapu-Rapu operation in Albay.
The company's latest report said that while Lafayette was suspended late last year, it paid royalty twice to TVI late last year and early this year.
The mining firm has earlier said that it has increased its gold and silver production by 112% as a result of targeted technical management.
The Canatuan mine has increased production of gold and silver to 56,880 gold equivalent ounces in 2006 from 26,830 gold equivalent ounces in 2005. A gold equivalent ounce is the combined amount of gold and silver produced with the latter's amount computed in gold ounces.
Gold production increased by 131% to 45,210 ounces in 2006 from 19,535 ounces in 2005. Silver production also rose by 36% to 608,507 ounces in 2006 from 445,859 ounces in 2005.
It officials said the improvement in production was due to a series of upgrades that were made to the mine and mill facilities at Canatuan in 2005 and 2006, resulting in record levels of metal production in 2006 when commodity prices were high.
Gold and silver ore supplied into the mill also increased 207% to 591,180 dry metric tons (dmt) in 2006 from 192,870 dmt in 2005.
The mine's recovery of precious minerals increased to 87.49% for gold and 61.82% for silver compared with 82.61% for gold and 50.10% for silver.
Cash cost for each gold equivalent ounce for 2006 was lower at $326 per ounce compared to $310 in 2005.
Total cost, which includes cash cost, amortization of equipment and previous mining expenses, for each gold equivalent ounce for 2006 is higher at $452 in 2006 from $415 in 2005. (Darwin Wee)
Based on its quarterly report, the mineral company also posted total operating revenue of $10.5 million compared with $8.8 million in 2006 and cash flow from operations of $1.3 million compared with $2.7 million.
The turnaround was accounted for largely by positive effect of the company's drilling and gold extraction performances demonstrated in April, during which a daily average of 207 gold equivalent ounces ("AuEqOzs") was produced, which was significantly higher than the average daily production of 148 AuEqOzs for the first quarter.
Increased daily throughput and metal production is expected to lower overall costs of metal produced (on a unit of production basis), thereby increasing overall financial performance, the company said.
"Our solid financial performance for the first quarter of 2007 has provided a continuing platform for growth and expansion," said Clifford James, TVI's President said in a statement.
"First quarter earnings and cash flow financed a dramatically expanded exploration program, compared with the same period last year, as well as initial expenditures on the Sulphide Expansion Project, which is expected to be the cash flow engine for TVI for next year and for years to come," he added.
TVI is currently operating in Canatuan project located in the town of Siocon in Zamboanga Del Norte, which is the first foreign-funded mining project in the Philippines in nearly four decades.
The Canadian company acquired its mineral production sharing agreement on September 1996, with mining tenements of 508 hectares. Mining of gold and silver-bearing raw gossans ore began in May of 2004.
The mining company is now on the expansion mode acquiring more mining lands in the peninsula.
TVI Pacific, a publicly listed firm in Canada, has mining operations in the Philippines and China. It is also involved in independent drilling operation and holds minor stakes in Lafayette Mining's troubled Rapu-Rapu operation in Albay.
The company's latest report said that while Lafayette was suspended late last year, it paid royalty twice to TVI late last year and early this year.
The mining firm has earlier said that it has increased its gold and silver production by 112% as a result of targeted technical management.
The Canatuan mine has increased production of gold and silver to 56,880 gold equivalent ounces in 2006 from 26,830 gold equivalent ounces in 2005. A gold equivalent ounce is the combined amount of gold and silver produced with the latter's amount computed in gold ounces.
Gold production increased by 131% to 45,210 ounces in 2006 from 19,535 ounces in 2005. Silver production also rose by 36% to 608,507 ounces in 2006 from 445,859 ounces in 2005.
It officials said the improvement in production was due to a series of upgrades that were made to the mine and mill facilities at Canatuan in 2005 and 2006, resulting in record levels of metal production in 2006 when commodity prices were high.
Gold and silver ore supplied into the mill also increased 207% to 591,180 dry metric tons (dmt) in 2006 from 192,870 dmt in 2005.
The mine's recovery of precious minerals increased to 87.49% for gold and 61.82% for silver compared with 82.61% for gold and 50.10% for silver.
Cash cost for each gold equivalent ounce for 2006 was lower at $326 per ounce compared to $310 in 2005.
Total cost, which includes cash cost, amortization of equipment and previous mining expenses, for each gold equivalent ounce for 2006 is higher at $452 in 2006 from $415 in 2005. (Darwin Wee)
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