OceanaGold lays off workers amidst FTAA uncertainties

Australian-Canadian mining firm OceanaGold is set to cut staff numbers by the end of the month as concerns on the renewal of its Financial and/or Technical Assistance Agreement (FTAA) remain unresolved.

The FTAA is an accord granted to foreign-owned mining firms that seek to conduct large-scale exploration, development, and utilization of minerals in the country.

OceanaGold’s Corporate Communications Manager Melissa Bowerman expressed in a PhilStar report that the existing 1,500 employees, 700 of which are contractors, would decline should the Didipio Mine fail to renew its FTAA as it had expired in June 2019.

“If we cannot get the FTAA renewed by the end of February, we won’t have the same number of employees,” Bowerman was quoted as saying in the report.

Because of this, OceanaGold had failed to meet its production target of 125,000 ounces (oz) of gold and 15,000 metric tons (MT) of copper last year; hence, Didipio was only able to produce 83,913 oz of gold and 10,255 mt of copper before processing was suspended in October.

“We’re not selling any product. And for the last eight months, we have not had any revenue,” Bowerman expressed in the report.

Per national bureaucratic structure, the President has the final word on the grant and the renewal of an FTAA upon the endorsement of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB).

However, according to reports, the Office of the President found that the first 25 years of OceanaGold’s mining operations were not covered by the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act and its area was outside the ancestral domain of the Bugkalot tribe; thus, resulting to a deficiency in the firm’s pertinent documents.

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OceanaGold lays off workers amidst FTAA uncertainties

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