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Wednesday, July 13, 2005
Firm stops mining operation in Tuba
By Jane Cadalig
THE mining company which conducted the much-opposed drilling at Tuba, Benguet has decided to pull out its operations from the area.
The Northern Luzon Exploration and Mining Company (Nlemco) backed out after it found out that the area where it conducted mineral exploration activities is not feasible for operations.
Max Estaris, Nlemco project manager, said only one drill hole showed mineral deposits and said it is not economically viable.
"I can say that the exploration was technically successful in the sense that drilling had confirmed porphyry Cu mineralization in the first hole. However, the intercept was low-grade and not economic. The other two holes did not intersect any significant mineralization. The company has demobilized the drill machine and decided to stop the exploration program," Estaris told National Commission on Indigenous People (NCIP) Regional Director Leilene Gallardo in a letter.
NCIP earlier asked the Nlemco to issue a certification that its drilling exploration in the said barangay is not economically feasible.
The company however declined the request saying this is not the practice of the exploration industry. It instead wrote the NCIP to explain that its exploration activities have stopped.
Nlemco started its exploration in a mountain called Mexico in Camp 6, Tuba, November last year but it encountered strong opposition from residents in the area as well as in nearby barangays.
Affected communities were apprehensive that the drilling activity would cause the depletion of their water supply.
They also assailed the local government for allegedly endorsing the undertaking, which the oppositors said, was not allowed by the affected barangays as what they expressed during a consultation done by the NCIP.
NCIP however explained that the 76-hectare lot, which has been applied for by the mining firm for exploration purposes, covers the claim of the Pocay clan and that the claimants have given their consent to the drilling exploration.
(July 13, 2005 issue)
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