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Bu-lat-lat (boo-lat-lat) verb: to
search, probe, investigate, inquire; to unearth facts
Vol. V, No. 37
October 23 - 29, 2005 Quezon City, Philippines |
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SPECIAL REPORT
Foreign TNCs
Dominate Mining Industry
Second of three parts
Recent applications for
mining exploration and extraction cover 66 percent of the Cordillera land
area.
By Windel Bolinget
Northern Dispatch
Posted by Bulatlat
BAGUIO CITY – The
Macapagal-Arroyo government’s aggressive mining policy to attract new
investors in the mining industry and hence to boost government revenues
appears to be paying off. In the Cordillera region, the number of new
mining applications has increased with the revival of old applications
overlapping each other and covering vast territories. Foreign mining
companies are entering into partnerships with the actively operating
mining companies in the region such as the Lepanto Consolidated Mining
Corporation and Philex Mines.
The total area
applied for already covers 66 percent of the region’s total land area.
This year, the Mines
and Geosciences Bureau-Cordillera Administrative Region (MGB-CAR) received
11 applications for the FTAA, each application costing only P10 per
hectare as filing fee at MGB-CAR. For application alone, MGB-CAR, which is
under the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR),
reportedly collected P7.207 million. (See table below for the list of FTAA
applications.)
As of
March 31 this year, the MGB-CAR processed a total of 114 various types of
applications: FTAA (11), Mineral Production Sharing Agreement (MPSA - 65),
Exploration Permit (EP - 37) and Industrial Sand and Gravel (ISAG - 1).
The applications cover a total land area of more than 1.2 million hectares
or more than 66 percent of the overall land area of the region. (See the
distribution of the mining applications in various provinces in Table 2
below.)
On top
of the abovementioned applications under process, 15 were approved by the
MGB, nine of which are MPSA (13,166.7700 has.), two are EP (545.675 has.),
and four ISAG 53.5 has.). These cover 13.8 million hectares. Benguet
province hosts the most number of approved applications, followed by Abra
and Kalinga (see Table 3 below). Note that not a single FTAA filed was
approved in the region just after the enactment of the Mining Act ten
years ago. This is due to the stiff resistance of the Cordillera people.
Mining operations
and TNC partners
Three
big mining companies continue to operate in the Cordillera Region,
particularly in Benguet. After the Itogon communities successfully stopped
the bulk-mining operations of Benguet Corporation, the company shifted to
its Acupan Contract Mining Project in Balatoc, also in Itogon. Lepanto
Consolidated Mining Co. (Lepanto) is expanding its operations from
Mankayan toward Buguias town, also in Benguet, and remains the No. 1 gold
producer in the country. The main copper producer, Philex Mining
Corporation (Philex) continues to operate in Tuba, Benguet.
Lepanto
has entered into a partnership agreement with Ivanhoe Mines, a Canadian
mining company. The partnership was proposed to Ivanhoe Mines by President
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. With its investment, Ivanhoe got a 12.7 percent
share of Lepanto. Infused with more capital, Lepanto can pursue expansion
projects outside of Mankayan. For this, Ivanhoe has shares in the mining
operations and applications covering 16,470 hectares processed for MPSA as
well as the 243,000 hectares covered by its FTAA applications in the
provinces of Benguet, Ilocos Sur, and Nueva Vizcaya. Lepanto operates its
Victoria and Teresa gold projects (with 7 years tax holiday) as it plans
to revive its copper porphyry given the continuing rise in the price of
copper in the international market.
On the
other hand, affected communities are persistent in their protests to stop
the expansion operations of Lepanto. They cite the impact of the
company’s alleged destructive mining operations, which is going on for
several decades.
But
Lepanto, like other mining companies in the region, is troubled by labor
unrest with mineworkers accusing it of exploitation and violations of
workers rights. From June 2-Sept. 10 this year, 1,685 workers of the
company, led by the Lepanto Employees Union-Naflu-KMU, went on strike
after a deadlock in the negotiations for a new Collective Bargaining
Agreement (CBA). Their proposal for an increase in wages and benefits was
consistently denied by management.
As in
the 2003 strike, peasant communities showed their firm support to striking
workers. International, national, and regional broad support was also
shown in solidarity with the striking workers, for genuine unionism, and
against corporate greed and domination. In the end, 19 union officers
agreed to accept their dismissal in exchange for the reinstatement of more
than a thousand other workers. The 19 officers continue represent the
workers in the ongoing CBA negotiations.
The
Philex Mining Corporation, on the other hand, has a partnership agreement
with the Anglo-American Mining Company based in South Africa. With mining
investments all over the world, it competes with BHP Billiton and Rio
Tinto as the biggest mining company worldwide. Anglo-American and Philex
operate Northern Luzon Exploration as a joint-venture. Anglo-American owns
50 percent of Philex Gold and has interests on the 1,019 hectares of
approved and ongoing applications of Philex and Northern Luzon
Exploration. As a partner of Philex, Anglo-American shares over the 22,712
hectares covered by the contracts and applications of the former for MPSA.
Philex
is being investigated by the Benguet provincial board for its forced
decongestion program and its refusal to allow the children of retrenched
workers to enroll in schools within the mine site.
Other
than Philex, Anglo-American solely owns and operates the Cordillera
Exploration. On top of the 27,804 hectares covered by its applications
for EP in the provinces of Apayao, Kalinga, Abra,
Mountain
Province, and Ifugao,
Cordillera Exploration has a single FTAA application covering 77,549
hectares within the provinces of Abra, Mt. Province and Benguet in the
Cordillera, and nearby Ilocos Sur province. It has taken over this FTAA
application previously owned by Newmont. Other foreign mining companies
with investments and interest in the Cordillera are Terra Nova, Canadian
mining company which owns most of Wolfland Resources, and Oxiana of
Australia. Northern Dispatch / Bulatlat
Table 1: List of
FTAA Applications |
Company |
Location |
Area in Has |
Cordillera Exploration |
Benguet, Abra,
Mt. Prov., Ilocos Sur |
77,549.00 |
Lepanto Consolidated Mining Co. |
Mankayan,
Kabayan, Benguet |
81,000.00 |
Shipside Incorporated |
Kayapa, Bambang,
etc, Nueva Vizcaya |
81,000.00 |
Diamond Drilling Corp of the
Philippines |
Alilem, Suyo,
etc, Ilocos Sur |
81,000.00 |
Horizon Resources Corp |
Atok, Kapangan,
etc. Benguet |
81,000.00 |
Patrick Resources Corp |
Pinukpuk,
Salegseg, Kalinga |
81,000.00 |
Lindsay Resources Corp |
Manabo, Bucay,
etc., Abra |
81,000.00 |
Mt. Franz Mining Corp |
Mt. Province and
Kalinga |
79,836.60 |
Eltopan Resource Corp |
Kabugao, Apayao
and Abra |
80,433.31 |
Olpaten Resources Corp |
Kalinga, Apayao
and Abra |
75,078.04 |
Sagitarius Alpha Realty Corp |
Kalanasan, Luna,
Kabugao, Apayao |
80,990.00 |
Source: MGB Regional Office, CAR,
2005 |
Table 2: Mining
Applications per Province in the Cordillera |
PROVINCE |
APSA |
EXPA |
AFTA |
ISAG |
No. |
Area in
Hectares |
No. |
Area in
Hectares |
No. |
Area in
Hectares |
No. |
Area in
Hectares |
ABRA |
6 |
14,846 |
16 |
16,219 |
1 |
81,000 |
- |
- |
APAYAO |
1 |
972 |
7 |
63,158.24 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
BENGUET |
50 |
96,169.0016 |
5 |
12,261.0034 |
4 |
320,549 |
1 |
6.40 |
IFUGAO |
1 |
2,592 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
MT. PROVINCE |
3 |
9,756.3700 |
3 |
8,748.00 |
5 |
399,830.6037 |
- |
- |
KALINGA |
- |
- |
6 |
40,379.00 |
1 |
81,000 |
- |
- |
Source: MGB Regional Office, CAR, 2005 |
Table 3: Locations of Approved Applications |
PROVINCE |
TYPE OF PERMIT |
Number |
Hectares |
Benguet |
MPSA |
6 |
11,441.77 |
EP |
1 |
46.9894 |
ISAG |
4 |
53.50 |
Abra |
MPSA |
3 |
1,725.000 |
Kalinga |
EP |
1 |
498.5781 |
Source: MGB
Regional Office, CAR, 2005 |
Cordillera – Still the Main Hub of Transnational Mining
First of three parts
Arroyo’s Priority
Mining Projects a Boon to TNCs
But small-scale miners will be
displaced
Conclusion
Related story:
Buaya Tribe Resists
Mineral Exploration
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© 2005 Bulatlat
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