Big copper-gold project of Aussie firm exempted: Gov orders cops: Stop all activities

BY JOAN CAPUNA

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya – Gov. Luisa LLoren-Cuaresma ordered Thursday the police to stop all mining activities in the province, saying continued extraction of mineral ores endangered Nueva Vizcaya’s critical watersheds and exposed small villages to mudslides and massive soil erosions.

Cuaresma however allowed the national government-sanctioned multi-billion-peso Didipio gold, copper project in Didipio, Kasibu town to operate. The governor ordered the dismantling of all structures built by hundreds of small-scale miners in remote mountain villages in Quezon and Kasibu towns, police provincial director Senior Supt. Segundo Duran said. "We have to implement the order,” Duran said.

“We have to clear the province of all illegal activities by the small-scale miners. They have been there for a long time, conducting their operations illegally, and it’s high time they should be stopped."

Cuaresma’s order was in response to reported illegal small-scale mining operations in various parts of the province, especially in gold- and copper-rich villages in the two towns where illegal prospecting and unregulated mining activities were rampant.

The governor reportedly issued the order to stop illegal mining operations to prevent the death of small-scale miners from asphyxiation or accidental burial by landslides. In many instances last year, small scale miners died in their illegally constructed tunnels after inhaling noxious gases.

"We intend to prevent a repeat of the numerous instances in the past in which miners perished in their tunnels, which is why we are strict in ensuring that all illegally constructed structures are dismantled," she said.

Cuaresma said continued operations of small-scale miners in the province could create another Mt. Diwalwal tragedy. Mt. Diwalwal, a known "gold-rush" site in Monkayo, Compostela Valley (formerly part of Davao del Norte) in Mindanao, is an area where hundreds of small-scale miners were reported to have died of poisoning and accidents due to unregulated mining.

The order to dismantle all illegal small-scale mining operations in the province was also intended to stop rampant smuggling of ores from legal small-scale mining sites through the alleged recycling of permits to transport.

On legal mining projects, Cuaresma said she was not against this because were major projects of the national government. "But I want only to ensure that the environmental laws are followed and that proper consultations with the concerned communities are conducted before their entry," she added.