Philex tailings dam plugged;miners clean affected waters

TUBA, Benguet -- About 200 miners and 100 office employees of Philex Mining Corp. have resumed cleanup of Balog Creek after the sinkhole at Padcal Mine’s tailings storage facility was plugged fully, with more volunteers expressing their willingness to join the cleanup drive in the coming days.

 “Our personnel at Padcal have informed us that students and teachers at the Philex community in Benguet, and families living at the mine site and nearby areas have also signified their interest to participate in our cleanup drive,” Michael Toledo, senior vice president of PMC, said.

But volunteers other than the immediate employees of PMC will have to wait for a few more days until all the necessary logistics and structures are done, according to Robert Salamat, a metallurgical engineer who works at the Mill Division of PMC’s Padcal Mine and head of the Environmental Team tasked to clean up the affected waterway.

Salamat said the 300 employees—mostly miners who volunteered to spearhead the cleanup and rehabilitation of Balog Creek and its convergence area with Agno River—resumed their task on September 28, when weatherconditions improved.

“While most of our team members down there on Balog Creek shoveling the sediment into sacks and hauling these sacks into a temporary storage facility, the other members are continuously creating more access leading to the creek while others are building temporary structures for the medical and other personnel along the creek,” he added.

Engineer Libby Ricafort, resident manager of Padcal operations, said the team began working at the site creating friendly access on the otherwise rugged terrain leading to Balog Creek during the first week of August, and started cleaning up the following week. The team had to suspend its cleanup, however, following another spill at TP3. 

Toledo said the cleanup of Balog Creek is part of PMC’s commitment to fulfill its obligations on the remediation and rehabilitation activities stemming from the Padcal accident, but stressed the company would not pay any punitive penalties such as fines as the spill was caused by force majeure.

Philex voluntarily suspended its operations at Padcal Mine on Aug. 1 after historically unprecedented heavy rains caused the discharge of sediment from TP3, affecting the Balog Creek and its convergence area with Agno River. Brought about by typhoons Ferdie and Gener, the heavydownpour reached 331.80 millimeters (mm) at the site on Aug. 1, far exceeding almost 100 mm Padcal’s 50-year rainfall  record of 234.50 mm in a single day.

PMC engineers and environmentalists, as well as external experts and government regulators have attested that the sediment from TP3 is non-toxic as chemical compounds used in the company’s operations at Padcal were biodegradable.  

Toledo also noted the findings of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) absolving PMC of any fault with regard to the Aug. 1 accident, saying the company’s TP3 and its secondary facilities were well maintained and monitored, and that its personnel had not been remiss in carrying out their duties.   

 “The findings came as no surprise because the company’s environmental management system, including the operation and maintenance ofTailings Pond No. 3, has long been ISO-compliant and -certified,” he said, emphasizing PMC’s ISO-14001 certification for years 2002, 2006, and 2008, and the latest certification issued on May 10, 2011.