Mine president cites MGB for allowing works: Watchdog group pushes probe on Philex operations

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet -- A week after being granted an extension to Philex Mining Corporation’s operations in Tuba, this province, a local watchdog group called Thursday  for a joint government-civil society investigation of the Philex mines spill into Balog Creek all the way to San Roque Dam last year.

“This is very unfortunate that the MGB (Mines and Geosciences Bureau) is allowing Philex to resume operations when it is the company itself that has failed to finish their so-called clean-up plan in the time frame given by the government,” said Fr. EduGariguez, spokesman of the group Philex Watch.

MGB Acting Director Leo Jasareno on July 5 gave the signal for the firm to go on with its remediation measures required for Tailings Storage Facility No. 3 (TSF-3), allowing an extension of the initial four-month operation of the mining firm in order to fill the void of the “damaged Tailings Pond 3,” which collapsed last year and dumped millions of tons of wastes into the creek.

It was found that the structure of the mine’s Tailings Pond 3 weakened due to incessant rain, resulting in the leakage – a thing contested by anti-mining and environmental groups in the country saying it was Philex’s fault.

Jasareno granted the extension despite pressure from various groups to decommission the mines, “while the DENR (Department of Environment and Natural Resources) thoroughly reviews other pertinent technical details.”

MGB also required Philex to submit weekly reports by the third party monitoring team regarding the structural integrity of TSF-3 and the status of the remediation measures being implemented.

However, Philex Watch expressed disappointment and questioned the motive in allowing the extension.

Fr. Gariguez recalled that the MGB, in a decision issued last Feb. 26, permitted Philex to temporarily resume operations to fix its waste storage facility after it broke in August 2012.

Philez president and CEO, Eulalio Austin, Jr. meanwhile lauded the MGB for allowing Philex to resume operations. “We thank the government for its rational and appropriate move toward our partnership in nation-building and economic progress.”

Austin said Philex Mining Corp. will implement its commitment to responsible mining, including environmental protection and social-projects, saying its tailings pond in Padcalis being repaired. 

Austin bared this after Jasareno said in a one page-letter to Austin that “In view of the urgent remediation measures required for Tailings Storage Facility (TSF) No. 3, Philex Mining Corporation is hereby authorized to continue implementing such remediation measures in the meantime that this office is thoroughly reviewing the pertinent technical details,”

           

Austin said Philex had put in place urgent measures to stabilize Padcal’s TSF3, now ongoing rehabilitation, including construction of an open spillway.

TSF3 reportedly discharged nontoxic water and sediment on Aug. 1, 2012 through a sinkhole, following two weeks of historically unprecedented rains brought about by typhoons “Ferdie” and “Gener,” which hit Benguet successively.

This prompted Philex Mining to immediately and voluntarily stop its Padcal operations, provide immediate assistance to the affected households, and implement its remediation and rehabilitation program in connection with the accident.

Austin said the P327-million open spillway, which is designed to replace TSF3’s underground drainage system, had two of its three chutes done by the end of June. The third chute will be undertaken during the next dry season.

TSF3’s Penstock A and its connecting Tunnel A had been condemned and sealed off with concrete following the accident, while its Penstock B and Tunnel B may still be used if needed, even after the completion of the open spillway.

Once completed, the spillway, whose each chute measures 12 meters wide and 300 meters long, will be able to channel as much as 1,000 millimeters of rain over a 24-hour period—equivalent to more than two times the 455 millimeters of rain brought about by Typhoon“Ondoy” over 24 hours in 2009.

The spillway will drain water from the pond, into which 25,000 cubic meters of fresh tailings have been poured everyday since March 8, when Philex Mining resumed its Padcal operations following a four-month temporary permit issued by the MGB after payment of P1.034 billion in remediation and rehabilitation fees.

Padcal has far produced at least 2.4 million cubic meters of tailings out of the 3.5 million cubic meters needed to fill up TSF3’s conical void left by the sinkhole and create a beach that would push accumulated water away from the pond and into the spillway.

Third-party experts have said that the presence of excessive amount of water in the pond, which was built to hold solids and not water, would breach the dikes and deluge the surrounding areas with water and sediment.

They added that the filling and beaching process was the best, fastest, and most economical way of bringing TSF3 back to itsoriginal condition before the accident. – With a report from Freddie Lazaro