MANILA, Philippines -- Environment Secretary Regina Lopez stood firm on Wednesday against proposals to lift a ban on open pit mining in South Cotabato that would pave the way for a controversial gold and copper operation in the town of Tampakan.
"I will not allow the Tampakan project as long as it is planned as an open-pit mine,"
Lopez said in a press conference, calling the extraction method “horrible.”
"Tampakan is on top of hundreds of hectares of agricultural land, the food basket of Mindanao, and you want to put a 700-hectare open pit mine? I don’t care how much money they give us.
It’s not worth it. Who is making the money here and who is taking the risk?" she said.
But she also assured due process in the review of permits issued for the project, Sagittarius Mining Inc. has a pending proposal to spend $5.9 billion to dig into one of Southeast Asia’s largest untapped resources with an estimated yield of 11.6 million tons of copper and 14.6 million ounces of gold.
The project, which would also cover parts of Sultan Kudarat and Davao del Sur, has been opposed by residents, mainly indigenous people, because of its massive impact on their water source, Lake Buluan.
Lopez, in an earlier dialogue with the lumad, assured that mining operations in the region found in violation of mining and environmental laws and regulations would be suspended.
During the dialogue, the lumad complained about open pit mines and tailings ponds in their areas, which have severely affected their livelihoods, among these: Sagittarius Mines Inc. in Tampakan, Sultan Kudarat; SR Metals Inc. in Tubay, Agusan del Sur; and Greenstone Mining and Taganito Mining, both in Surigao del Norte.
They urged Lopez to also send illegal logging in watershed areas and to stop the militarization of their lands, which they linked to the entry of large-scale mining.
Source: InterAksyon.com
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