Friday, November 14, 2008 Guv orders closure of 145 'illegal' gold tunnels By Bong S. Sarmiento
KORONADAL CITY -- The South Cotabato Provincial Government has clamped down on alleged illegal small-scale mining players in T'boli town, closing down some 145 tunnels and serving stoppage orders to 17 ore processing or ball mill operators.
Lourdes S. Jumilla, Provincial Mining Regulatory Board secretariat chief, said that dozens of policemen and soldiers under the 27th Infantry Battalion helped serve the closure order against the mining tunnels on Wednesday.
The closed gold mining tunnels cover an area of 21 hectares in Barangay Kematu, an expanse disputed by the native Maguan clan and the T'boli Minahang Bayan Multi-Purpose Cooperative (TMBMPC).
"These operators failed to get mining permits from the Provincial Government despite given enough time already," Jumilla said.
Governor Daisy P. Avance-Fuentes said she ordered the closure of illegal small-scale operations months ago on the recommendation of the provincial mining board.
Jumilla said the stoppage order should have been implemented months ago but the Provincial Government deferred it in the hope that the Maguan clan and the cooperative settle their differences.
The application of the Maguan clan to mine in the 21 hectares, which they insisted forms part of their ancestral domain claim, was denied by the Provincial Government, Jumilla said without elaborating.
On the other hand, the cooperative failed to present a Free Prior Informed Consent certification from the tribe, she added.
The cooperative members are mining the 21 hectares for years and they were given three months starting last June to secure the necessary permit but they did not, thus we finally implemented the order of the governor, Jumilla said.
But she said the small illegal mining players will be allowed to resume operations if they can secure permits from the Provincial Government.
The parcel of land, however, forms part of the 85-hectare mining area granted by the government to Tribal Mining Corp. under Mineral Production Sharing Agreement number 090-97-XI.
Canadian mining exploration firm Cadan Resources Corp. recently confirmed high-grade gold and silver deposits in the area of Tribal Mining, its Philippine affiliate.
Jumilla said the settlement of the case between the cooperative and Tribal Mining is still pending before the Court of Appeals (CA).
Meantime, Ali S. Pantao, lawyer of the regional Mines and Geosciences Bureau, said they received a copy from the Provincial Government stopping the operations of ball mill plants also in T'boli town.
Jumilla said they serve closure orders to 17 ball mill operators in the town still mired in poverty despite being known as a gold rush site since the 1980s.
They lack environmental clearance certificates but some of them are now trying to comply with the necessary requirements, she added.
There are around 50 ball mill plants in the town, some of them in residential areas, which the local government would like to transfer to a designated industrial zone, Jumilla said.
