Benguet wants MGB to extend Padcal operation

By Butch Franco 

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet -- The Provincial Board of Benguet has formally appealed to government regulators, to extend the four-month permit they issued to Philex Mining Corp. for the resumption of its operations at Padcal Mine.

In its Resolution No. 13-113, dated May 6, the Sangguniang Panlalawigan Office, in La Trinidad, said allowing Philex Mining to continue operating would also be beneficial to local government units (LGUs) hosting the company as well as their constituents.

           

It also stressed that Philex Mining, through its ongoing rehabilitation program, has restored the “safety and integrity” of Padcal’s Tailings Storage Facility No. 3 (TSF), in Itogon, after the tailings-leak accident last Aug. 1.

           

The three-page resolution, attested by Vice Gov, and presiding officer Crescencio Pacalso, has sent the formal request to Fay Apil, officer-in-charge of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau at the Cordillera Administrative Region in Baguio City.

           

“Resolved, as it is hereby done to request the MGB-CAR thru Ms. Fay W. Apil … to extend the four (4) months temporary permit to operate issued to the Philippine Mining Corporation,” the resolution said.

The go-signal given by MGB-CAR, a part of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, to Philex Mining for the temporary resumption of its gold-and-copper production at Padcal Mine expires July 7.

            

Philex Mining voluntarily suspended operations at Padcal Mine last Aug. 1, when nontoxic tailings accidentally discharged at its TSF3 after historically unprecedented heavy rains brought about by two successive typhoons.