Lepanto Discovers New Gold Reserves
Residents caution DENR over permit issuance

Asia’s top gold producer, Lepanto Consolidated Mining Company (LCMCo), has discovered gold reserves in its mining area. The discovery is expected to boost its gold production in addition to its gold expansion projects. Town and village officials are not happy and have asked the environment department not to issue permit for the company’s new operations.

BY ARTHUR L. ALLAD-IW 
NORTHERN DISPATCH 
Bulatlat

BAGUIO CITY – ­The Lepanto Consolidated Mining Company (LCMCo), Asia’s top gold producer, has recently discovered gold reserves in its mining area. The discovery is expected to boost its gold production in addition to its gold expansion projects called the Victoria 1 and II.

Local officials and leaders claim however that like the company’s gold expansion projects, the operation of the newly-discovered gold reserve faces rough sailing as residents reiterated their opposition to any company expansion project while mine-related issues remain unresolved.

The newly-discovered mine site is called Teresa Ore body which can add another 15 years to Lepanto’s operation. Located at the Lepanto mine area where it is supposed to operate the Far South East Project (FSEP), the estimated gold reserve in the area is pegged at 110,418 kilograms.

The FSEP’s center of operation is in Sitio Tabbac, Barangay Bulalacao. NORDIS sources said the ore body covers the barangays of Suyoc,  Bulacacao, and Taneg, all in the municipality of Mankayan, Benguet, which  is around 100 kilometers from this city.

The LCMC expansion projects Victoria I and II cover the tri-boundaries of the provinces of Ilocos Sur, Mountain Province, and Benguet.

Sangguniang Bayan (municipal council) member and Association of Barangay Councils (ABC) president Denver Tongacan in a NORDIS interview appealed to government agencies to exercise caution in approving the permit to operate the newly discovered mine site while urging them to resolve mine-related  issues.

Communities filed a petition with the office of the DENR secretary last December 2003 urging the office to investigate the effects of Lepanto operations in the area. Environment Secretary Elisea Gozun allegedly referred the petition to the DENR-CAR office but the petitioners claim that there has been no action from the agency.

The petition also claims that Lepanto’s expansion projects have no Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) which the law requires before any mining activity can be started.

Earlier, the residents reiterated that they did not endorse the expansion projects. They lobbied with the Sangguniang Bayan which led to the withdrawal of the latter’s resolution that endorsed the project.

Community leader Albert Diego urged the DENR/MGB not to issue a permit to the company for its newly-discovered project and asked that it consider the position of the community. Diego is an officer of DAMAYAN (Danggayan Dagiti Maseknan nga Umili ti Mankayan), an association of residents of different barangays in Mankayan, established in 2003.

DAMAYAN leaders said that Lepanto has, at present, tailing dams #5-A for its mine wastes. They said that with the Victoria I and II, and the pending Teresa Ore, more mine wastes are expected.

“The mine waste disposal should be seriously considered as the Abra River suffers from mine wastes,” said Diego.

The DAMAYAN urged the concerned government agencies not to undermine the democratic processes needed to be implemented before any mining activities. “It must consider the social acceptability, environmental and ancestral land issues,” Diego said. Bulatlat

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