Anti-mining group Alyansa Tigil Muna (ATM) called on the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) to suspend all mining operations in Mindanao and conduct an urgent assessment to determine the stability of mine areas in the region after the recent earthquakes that affected Mindanao.
However, MGB Director Wilfredo Moncano said the stability assessment should be done automatically by mining companies after a series of earthquakes and aftershocks.
“It is almost automatic even without the need of a call,” Moncano told Manila Bulletin reporters.
“The MGB and the mining companies are aware that after every major events like earthquakes, assessment of the integrity of tailings storage facilities, mine sites, waste dumps, mine buildings, underground tunnels and other mine related support structures,” Moncano further said.
ATM said that the structural and geological stability of mine areas and facilities must be clearly set by the MGB to ensure the safety of the communities near the mine sites, specifically the surrounding areas with serious damage from the earthquakes such as South Cotabato, Davao del Sur, and Sultan Kudarat.
Moncano noted that the epicenter of the earthquake was far from the mining region of Caraga and the intensity had lesser effects in the mining areas of Surigao and Agusan.
“You will note that there are no operating large scale mines in Cotabato area and Davao Sur, thus negating the need to suspend and review the mining operations in Mindanao,” Moncano further said.
Meanwhile, MGB recently suggested the lifting of the suspension of the environment clearance of the $5.9-billion copper-gold mining project of Sagittarius Mines, Inc. in Tampakan, South Cotabato.
The late former Environment Secretary Regina Paz Lopez repealed the Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) of the Tampakan project, citing environmental concerns in 2017.
