Marcopper Mining operations halted after waste leak

Marcopper Mining operations halted after waste leak

MANILA (AFP): The Philippine government has halted the
operations of a mining firm, whose waste ore leaked into a river,
including its operations in other areas, it was announced here
yesterday.

Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Victor Ramos also
said that Marcopper Mining Corp. could face the threat of closure
and that its officials have been barred from leaving the country.

Marcopper vice-president Ted Gabor said that Ramos had
informed the company last week that a cease-and-desist order
would be issued but that they still had not received any formal
notice.

Tailings, or inferior ore, from a waste containment pit of
Marcopper have been leaking into the Boac river in Marindugue
province south of Manila since March 24. The leakage has
occasionally stopped, then re-started.

The wastes have polluted the 25-kilometer Boac river and
raised its banks, isolating five villages and affecting some
2,000 people.

Marcopper resident manager Steven Reid said that an estimated
three million of the 30 million tons of mine waste contained in
the pit have leaked into the river.

Although mine officials have said that the waste was not
toxic, fish have been dying and some people who drank from the
water had to be treated at hospitals.

Gabor admitted that the leakage had resumed recently but said
that it had stopped on Monday.

Ramos was quoted on government television as saying that at
least a decade ago, Marcopper operations at that same mine were
halted because the company was dumping tailings into the bay in
Marinduque.

Marcopper had been allowed to resume operations only after
agreeing to follow strict environmental conditions, Ramos said.

However, after the latest incident, "we have every reason to
really put our foot down and not allow them to do further damage
in Marindugue or anywhere else," he said.

The official Philippine News Agency (PNA) said the hold order
would apply to Marcopper's mining exploration project in the
gold-rich area of Diwalwal outside the southern city of Davao.

The Canadian firm, Placer Copper Holdings. Inc., which owns 40
percent of Marcopper, has also been blacklisted from engaging in
other mining activities in the country, the PNA reported. The
remaining 60 percent is owned by Filipinos.

The PNA said the 67 other applications by foreign mining
firms, to operate in this country, were also being closely looked
into.

Foreign firms have shown renewed interest in the moribund
Philippine mining industry in recent months since the government
liberalized the industry this year.

Gabor said Marcopper had stopped operations on its own when
the leakage began and assured that the company was looking for
ways to resolve the problem. He also assured that "Marcopper will
not run away from its responsibility. Our officials will not run
away from the country."