ITOGON, Benguet -- Police Chief Inspector Heherson Zambale of Itogon Municipal Police Station disclosed they are conducting random inspection and monitoring at ball mills to prevent violation of terms and conditions stated in the order of the Provincial Mining Regulatory Board (PMRB) in Benguet.

“We conduct random inspection, na minomonitor natin iyong mga ball mill na lumalabag doon sa terms and conditions na nakasaad sa temporary permit ng PMRB, monitoring sa adits na accordingly na may pumapasok. We expect hindi na madagdagan iyong nagviolate sa directive na binigay ng DENR (Department of Environment and Natural Resources),” says Zambale.

PMRB recently approved a resolution this month extending Small Scale Miner Associations (SSMA) who secured temporary small-scale mining processors permit (TSSMPP) from the board.

Groups are given until December 31, 2018 to process their remaining gold ore stockpiles only for milling and sluicing.

Under the terms and conditions of the TSSMPP include the hauling of already extracted ores to the processing plant and be limited to ball mill and sluicing activities, further extraction of ores is prohibited.

Indiscriminate discharge of processed tails to rivers and creek are also prohibited. The concerned associations are advised to stop their operations after the given extension period.

Aside from monitoring, Zambale urged stakeholders to report violators of the directive of DENR and coordinate with the authorities.

“We encouraged na maki pagtulungan sa amin para nang sagayon mahuli natin iyong mga pumapasok,” the top cop added. “We believe November, may mga hindi pa naubos na ore pero marami din doon na naubos na so most likely ang pwede nilang gawin is mag extract sila ng mga ore na galing sa mga butas na pwede nilang maidagdag na pwede nilang i-process. Iyon iyong binabantayan natin para hindi sila makabalik.”