Tuesday, August 21, 2007 Provincial Board members reject report on mining dam collapse By Bong Garcia
SIOCON, Zamboanga del Norte -- The members of the Provincial Board's committee on natural resources and environment protection are not discounting the possibility that there are some groups trying to discredit the TVI Pacific Inc., a Canadian mining company focused on acquisition, exploration, and development of polymetallic mineral deposits in the Philippines and other Asian countries.
The committee members inspected last Saturday the Canadian gold mine area in Mount Canatuan only to find out that the report about the dam collapse and spread of toxic chemicals in rivers and creeks were untrue.
"We cannot discount that (possibility to discredit). That's the usual thing that happens since there are really those who oppose mining," said PB Member Aniceto Darunday, a member of the committee on natural resources and environment protection.
Reports supported by photographs reached the PB committee on environment and natural resources indicated that one of the two dams, known as the Sulphide dam, being operated by the RVI Resource Development Inc. (TVIRD) has collapsed in the morning of July 11 due to heavy downpour.
The other is the Gossan dam that is being used to impound gold and silver mine tailings.
"There is no dam collapse at all, but what happened was an erosion," said PB Member Felixberto Bolando, the chairman of the committee on natural resources and environment protection.
The erosion occurred at the Sulphide tailing dam's downstream, which is still under the construction. It would be used next year once the mining firm starts extracting copper and zinc.
Bolando was accompanied by his committee members composed of Provincial Board Members Edgar Baguio and Cedric Adriatico aside from Darunday on Saturday during the mining site inspection at Mount Canatuan.
Adriatico discovered the photographs that reached the Bolando-led committee were taken in an angle to make it appear that there was a dam collapse instead of erosion.
"We are here not as pro or anti-TVI. We are here to see four ourselves the way TVI is operating," Adriatico said after the site inspection.
TVIRD Vice President for environment and civil works Jay Nelson, who is supervising the Sulphide dam construction, said the facility would be completed in April 2008. It will be an 80-meter high dam.
"The design criteria used for both dams were based on Philippine standards and regulations as well as various operations and engineering criteria used in North America, and in fact the detailed design and construction supervision have been provided by top international firms," Nelson said.
TVIRD Public Affairs Director Rocky Dimaculangan said the dams could withstand an 8.5 intensity earthquake based on its design and structure.
Aside from the Sulphide dam, the provincial lawmakers also inspected the Gossan that is being used to impound gold and silver tailings.
TVIRD manager Magi Bagayao disproved rumors there are secret outlets or undeclared exits in the Gossan dam intended to be used during heavy rainfall to prevent the overflowing of waste tailings or the collapse of the dam.
"These persistent rumors are just silly," Bagayao said.
The site inspection and public hearing were called for by Adriatico after he heard reports from anti-mining groups that TVIRD's Sulphide dam allegedly collapsed after a heavy downpour last July 11 and 12.
A Mines and Geosciences Bureau inspection team has officially verified that there is no truth to those reports.
The Canatuan Project provides gainful employment to a total of 786 employees, 40 percent of who are from Zamboanga del Norte, mostly Subanon indigenous.
TVIRD's tax payments to the Philippine government are increasing: P2.2 million in 2004; P13.2 million in 2005; and P35.4 million in 2006.
TVI Pacific Inc. is a publicly traded Canadian mining company focused on exploring for and producing precious and base metals within district scale systems in the Philippines and other Asian countries.
The Company owns the Canatuan Mine and its other Philippine assets through its affiliate, TVI Resource Development (Phils.) Ltd. (TVIRD).
TVI's most advanced project, the Canatuan Mine, currently produces gold and silver oré.
