Gold ores confiscated from illegal mining in Tuba, Benguet

Around 30 sacks of gold ores were confiscated from illegal small-scale mining activities in Tuba, Benguet.

Tuba police were informed that personnel of the Headquarters Support Group of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) arrested four miners for alleged violation of illegal scale mining activities.

PMA personnel were guarding the areas along Basa when they encountered the four suspects mining inside a tunnel. They brought the suspects to Tuba Municipal Police Station, as reported by Sunstar reporters.

Officials confiscated four pieces of spotlight, shovel, two grab hoe, bolo, improvised wagon and 30 sacks of gold ores.

National Task Force Mining Challenge with the help of Philippine Army, Philippine National Police, Criminal Investigation and Detection Group and the National Bureau of Investigation are responsible for the closing and prevention of illegal small-scale mining operations in the Cordillera region.

This in line with the order of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’s (DENR) Secretary Roy Cimatu to stop all illegal SSM activities in the Cordillera region after the landslide in Barangay Ucab in Itogon, Benguet, which occurred in September last year.