PNoy suggests compromise on South Cotabato environment code issue

SOUTH COTABATO, Philippines - The Philippine government has started consultations aimed at settling an issue brought about by a newly enacted ordinance that bans open pit mining in South Cotabato province in Mindanao and threatening a $6-billion gold-copper project in that province.

The project run by Sagittarius Mines Inc. is expected to start production in 2015 and hopes to generate 10,000 jobs during construction and 2,000 jobs during operations.

Environment Secretary Ramon Jesus Paje on Tuesday said “they have received instructions from the President to negotiate and attain a compromise”.

"The instruction from Noynoy is that we should attain a compromise," Paje said, referring to the President. "The president has already given us that mandate. It is very important for us." he added.

On Monday, President Benigno Aquino III told reporters he would work out a compromise among concerned parties and that there are consultations going on as in the case of Sagittarius Mines Inc., whose multi-million dollar mining investment is threatened by a provincial ordinance due to environmental concerns.

SMI's investment is touted as the Philippines' largest single investment ever. The Tampakan Gold Copper Project is estimated to contain 13.5 million tonnes of copper and 15.8 million ounces of gold at a 0.3 percent cut-off grade.

The outgoing provincial governor of South Cotabato last month signed and approved the province's Environment Code, which contains a provision that bans open pit mining. The local ordinance triggered uproar from residents and upland tribes within the proposed project area, claiming that local legislators are robbing them of their future.

The President, however, said that the provincial government believes open-pit mining is detrimental to the environment and there is no new technology that will make it safer, while the mining industry players say there can be a healthy compromise that affords us the jobs, the investment and the multiplier effect of that investment on the economy.

“I will work toward that getting them to meet on a common ground that will allay the fears and also afford us the benefits of this investment”, he said.

He expressed “confidence that there can be a meeting of the minds in an atmosphere of trust provided by his administration.”

Aquino said, however, “that at the end of the day it will be the local community whose voice will be loudest as far as I’m concerned, because they will...be the ones to suffer if a disaster happens.”

Paje said “the government wanted to resolve the issue through negotiations, but it could not stop mine operators challenging the legality of the local law in court. (Nikki Gomez)

Seized Canadians, Filipino Surveyors Of Swiss Mining Firm Freed In Mindanao

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / June 5, 2008) – Tribesmen seized two Canadians and four Filipino surveyors of a Swiss mining firm, but freed them later on a remote village in Mindanao after divesting them of their equipment and money.

The Canadians Deth Triesen, 23, and Andrei Argamomob, 45, were freed late Tuesday afternoon along with their Filipino assistants Madong Turo, Johnny Malid Abundio Tanedo and Loreto Blanco in the town of Kiblawan in Davao del Sur province.

“Police forces are now tracking down the suspects,” Chief Inspector Querubin Simeon Manalang, the regional police spokesman, told the Mindanao Examiner.

The six are workers of the Sagittarius Mines Inc. (SMI), in Tampakan town in Davao del Sur.

Manalang said three B’laan tribesmen seized the surveyors after flagging down their vehicle on a remote Kiblawan village of Tacub. “They were briefly held, about two and a half hours, after the bandits thought the victims were carrying huge amount of money and freed them unharmed,” Manalang said.

He said the natives also confiscated the surveyor' geophysics equipment and computers, but returned them to its owners later Tuesday after a series of negotiations.

Manalang said many armed groups are also operating in the province, including the communist New People's Army (NPA), which had previously attacked the SMI.

B'laan tribesmen are opposing the mining operations in the province, saying, it is destroying their ancestral lands.

Police have already identified two of the three tribesmen who held the surveyors as Yot Salute and Pokok Betil.

In January, communist rebels raided the mining firm in Tampakan town and torched buildings and equipment.

The NPA accused SMI of plunder, land grabbing and environment destruction and said the attack was a punishment. The rebels said the raid was in response to a longstanding demand of indigenous people to put a stop to the firm's operations in the area.

Indigenous tribes were protesting the operation of the SMI, saying, the mining activities allegedly encroached into ancestral lands and caused pollution in rivers and streams in Tampakan, which is considered a watershed area. But it is believed to be one of the world's "best new large-scale copper gold mines," with an estimated 11.6 million tons of copper and 14.6 million ounces of gold.

SMI is partly owned by Xstrata, one of the world's largest mining companies based in Switzerland.

Rebel forces have previously raided other mining firms in Mindanao which refused to pay illegal taxation.

In March, more than 50 rebels also raided the Apex Mining Company in Maco town in nearby province of Compostela Valley. The NPA said it was a punishment for the firm's failure to pay so-called "revolutionary" taxes and for environment destruction.

Gunmen disarmed the firm's security guards and torched mining equipment.

Apex is partly owned by international mining company called Crew Gold Corporation based in London and has interests in Lefa Corridor Gold Project in Guinea; Nalunaq Gold Mine in Greenland; and the Maco Gold Mine in the Philippines.

Last year, NPA forces also attacked a private coal mining firm, the MG Mining Company, in Raja Kabunsuan village in Surigao del Sur's Lingig town.

The Philippines' largest Muslim rebel group, Moro Islamic Liberation Front, also warned mining firms to stay away from ancestral lands in Mindanao.

MILF rebels have previously attacked and killed 13 Filipino miners working for the Calgary-based TVI in Zamboanga del Norte province after they ignored warnings to stop operation in Mount Canatuan in Siocon town, a sacred altar to an indigenous tribe called the Subanon whose ancestors settled in the area centuries ago.

The Philippines is estimated to have at least US$1 trillion unexploited treasure trove of minerals and is promoting the rejuvenation of the mining sector to boost the economy and cut its budget deficit and debt. (Mindanao Examiner)

Australian Embassy Minister Visits Mining Site In Southern Philippines

SOUTH COTABATO, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Nov. 28, 2007) – Australian Embassy Minister and Deputy Head of Mission Stephen Scott visited the facilities of the Sagittarius Mines, Inc. (SMI) in South Cotabato’s Tampakan town.

SMI presented Scott its social and environmental management programs and projects. SMI is the main proponent of the Tampakan Copper-Gold Project.

Scott, who was welcomed by acting Mayor Pedro Cagas and acting Vice-Mayor Relly Leysa, toured the Maticura Field Trial Station where SMI personnel maintain a nursery of indigenous plant and tree species and a butterfly and insect farm.

Scott was also presented an update on the project at the SMI base camp in the village of Tablu. He was briefed on the project’s current technical and environmental activities and community engagement programs, said a statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner on Wednesday.

He also inspected a drill rig and the SMI Competence Center where he was briefed on the community education and capability-building programs of the company.

While in Tampakan, Scott, accompanied by Mark Williams, SMI general manager, met with government officials and businessmen. Scott commended the socio-economic development initiatives of SMI at the pre-operating stage of the project.

“This is a good experience knowing the growing support of major stakeholders of the Tampakan project, which has a very significant potential to develop the community, the region and the country as a whole,” he said.

Williams, for his part, reiterated SMI’s commitment to invest in the sustainable development of the project’s in the area.

He said community projects being delivered by SMI to the host communities include education assistance to students at all levels, health care assistance to community members, and capability-building programs for residents.

SMI has also embarked on environmental protection initiatives, such as environmental baseline studies and reforestation and biodiversity programs, Williams said.

“We want to undertake every aspect of the project the right way, consistent with world’s best practices. Looking after the long-term welfare of our host communities and protecting the environment are fundamental to the way we do business,” he said, adding, “support to these community activities will be increasing as the project moves forward.”

Williams also reiterated SMI’s policy of giving preference to qualified local residents and companies in hiring project personnel and in sourcing supplies for operations. “No less than 90 percent of our work force is from the local communities,” he said.