Tuesday, October 07, 2008 Mining firm’s operations stopped
THE Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) 7 has issued a cease-and-desist order against a mining company upon the discovery that the mine’s waste material is spilling into the Sapangdaku River in Toledo City.
According to a press statement released by the MGB 7, Director Roger de Dios issued a cease-and-desist order immediately on last Sept. 27 during the inspection of the Sapangdaku River and the mine responsible for the incident.
MGB 7 told the Carmen Copper Corp. not to use their emergency tailings pond (ETP).
Investigation
The order will not be lifted unless MGB 7 conducts a thorough investigation and check why the ETP failed to contain the mine’s waste materials.
“An investigating team composed of MGB 7 technical personnel will be dispatched on Oct. 8 to find out the soundness of the structure of the emergency tailings pond; the real cause of the failure of the pond; impacts of the leaking and possible violations of the company,” said de Dios in a press statement.
During his inspection, de Dios noted that the waters of the Sapangdaku River started to look “grayish.”
“I called up the company immediately and gave the order to stop the use of the ETP,” de Dios told Sun.Star Cebu.
The MGB 7 said that since the reporting of the incident, the company has undertaken continuous distilling operations that have improved the color of the river.
In investigations lead by multipartite monitoring team (MMT) last Sept. 30, the MMT noted that 15 constructions workers have already been at the ETP doing repair work on the penstock.
However, de Dios pointed out that the company’s ETP was never mentioned in their work operations and was never inspected by authorities.
Compensation
“There was no mention of an ETP in their operations, so it never saw inspection,” said de Dios.
Failure of the company to mention the ETP would mean sanctions, he said.
De Dios ordered the company to compensate families, should the leakage cause any damage on livestock or crops. However, based on initial reports, the company has yet to receive nay damage reports.
So far, the marine life in the river is safe and the mine tailings are not toxix, said de Dios.
In 1999, a similar leak incident occurred, wherein the acid drainage leaked into the river causing a fish kill. (EPB)
