Philex sets out to check mine tailings dam spill

By ThetMesias

ITOGON, Benguet -- Philex Mining Corp. Chairman, CEO Manuel V. Pangilinan and Carlos Primo David, Ph.D., recently signed agreements that would determine quantity of the tailings spill at the company’s Padcal mine here and revegetate abandoned tailings ponds, at the Meralco offices on Ortigas Ave.

This, as the Itogon local government expressed interest in enlisting the Balog Creek, whose remediation and rehabilitation is being done by Philex Mining Corp., as part of its ecotourism offering.

 This according to Feliciano Diso, Jr., manager of Community Relations Department at Philex Mining’s Padcal Project, who said that Itogon Mayor Oscar Camantiles has sent word requesting that the “infrastructure installed by Philex Mining in the creek be made permanent.”

 Diso added that Padcal officials are now making arrangements to meet with the mayor and talk about the matter, and for the latter to visit Balog Creek, which has been affected by the accidental discharge of non-toxic sediment from Padcal’s Tailings Pond No. 3 (TP3) on Aug. 1.

 He added that the mayor has expressed interest in Philex Mining’s rehabilitation of Balog Creek after he saw some photos of it.

Meanwhile, with Pangilinan in the signing were Marilyn Aquino, member of Philex Mining’s board of

directors and legal director of the company’s parent firm, First Pacific, Philex Mining President and COO Eulalio Austin, Jr. and Victor Francisco, vice president for Environment andCommunity Relations at Philex Mining.

Pangilinan also signed another agreement involving a proposal by Nicomedesdela Cruz Briones, Ph.D., on the rehabilitation of Balog Creek and its convergence area with Agno River after the accidental discharge of sediment from Philex Mining’s tailings pond in Itogon, Benguet on Aug. 1.

Dr. David is professor at the National Institute of Geological Sciences, University of the Philippines-Diliman, while Dr. Briones is professor at the School of Environmental Science and Management at UP Los Baños, in Laguna.

The accord with Dr. Briones includes proposals from five other scientists on therehabilitation of the affected waters.

The other proposals were done by Emmanuel Lleva, who holds a doctoratedegree in environmental science from UP Los Baños; Maxima Flavier, who has aPh.D. in agricultural chemistry, also from UP Los Baños; Nina Cadiz, who finished a doctorate degree in horticulture-crop physiology at UP Los Baños and sandwich program with the University of Wales, in Cardiff; and Louie Balicanta, who has a master’s degree in urban planning from UP Diliman.

Philex Mining announced last month that it already cleaned the silt off of about half of the 2.5-kilometer stretch of Balog Creek, collecting 85,000 bags of silt which have since been hauled off to and kept in temporary storage areas.

 The company also said it installed eight silt traps along the Maligaboy Creek, another tributary of Agno River, to contain silt coming from the upstream. Another silt trap was being constructed at the 2.1-kilometer mark near Balog Creek’s convergence area with Agno River.

 In addition, Philex Mining has constructed riprap walls in designated areas, and improving access to and along the waterway by constructing footpaths on rugged terrain and building hanging bridges and elevated pathways down the creek.

 Itogon, known for its rugged terrain and cooler climes, holds an annual three-day traverse of Mt. Ugo every March. This allows camping and trekking enthusiasts to walk for three days starting from Kayapa, Nueva Vizcaya up to Itogon, Benguet.

 This annual event is sponsored by Philex Mining and organized by the Department of Tourism in the Cordillera Administrative Region, in cooperation with Itogon-LGU.

 Philex Mining has been implementing a remediation and rehabilitation program for Balog Creek and its convergence area with Agno River since the Aug. 1 accident, which followed heavy rains brought about by typhoons. (There were no reports of casualties or injuries.

 This would require the company to spend at least P1 billion between Aug. 2012 and Apr. 2013, including the rehabilitation of its TP3, particularly the building of an open spillway to replace the pond’s current penstock system of draining non-toxic water into Balog Creek through an underground tunnel.