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."