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Monday, April 21, 2003
600T tons mine waste leaking to Davao gulf
By Ben O. Tesiorna
DAVAO -- Some 600,000 tons of hazardous mining residue are now sitting on top of the gold rush area of Mt. Diwata, just waiting to wreak havoc on the environment and the lives of the people downstream.
Worse, the tailings pond is said to be leaking toward the Naboc River that disgorges its waters into the Davao Gulf.
During an inspection by the Monkayo local government unit (LGU) last week, it was discovered that the big processing plants, particularly those of the BBL and Blucor Minerals Corporation, were doing "clandestine operations" in violation of their prior commitment to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the local government.
It was learned that the tolerable amount of waste produced should only be 15 tons per day but the big processing plants are reportedly turning out about 100 tons daily resulting in the accumulation of the huge amount of mine waste.
The two-hectare mine tailings pond of the two firms was also observed to be violating safety standards in mining.
"The design of the pond is not engineered and violates the safety standards in mining. Only preventing the tailings (waste) from spilling over to the river are sack piles that can easily be punctured with pressure and gravity," the Mt. Diwata inspection report of the Monkayo local government said.
Moreover, the ponds are situated on a mountain ledge near a ravine and directly above the major road artery connecting the mining site to the population sites below.
This is aside from the fact that the holding capacity of the pond is less than the volume of tails dumped into them on a daily basis and made worse by the water runoff during heavy downpours that accumulate in the pond instead of being diverted into river tributaries.
"The accumulation of liquid and pressure of water can lead to the collapse of the ponds," the report said.
The local government of Monkayo is blaming the DENR technical working group (TWG) for its lackadaisical effort in strictly implementing the regulations imposed by the DENR on mining operations in Mt. Diwata, commonly known as Diwalwal.
The local government claims that despite the violations the concerned agency has not appropriately made corrective measures nor had it imposed penalties on the violators.
Because of this, Monkayo town is now recommending to Environment Secretary Elisea Gozun to "change the composition of the TWG by including directly the involvement of non-government organizations, indigenous peoples and farmer sector in assessing the Diwalwal status."
They also asked for the indemnification of the farmers and settlers who have been directly affected by the "unabated discharge of tails, silt and pollutants into rivers."
The imposition of penalties against and the closure and stoppage of erring processing plants are also being strongly recommended. Sun.Star Davao
(April 21, 2003 issue)
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