This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. V, No. 41, November
20-26, 2005
DENR urged to permanently
close Albay Mine An
environmental group has accused a mining company of being responsible for the
fish kill in Rapu-rapu Island in Albay province, not just once, but twice, last
October. Based on the results of its fact-finding mission, the mining company
must be permanently closed. The ecological damage, after all, could go beyond
Rapu-rapu Island. BY
AUBREY SC MAKILAN RAPU-RAPU ISLAND – After an
independent fact-finding mission revealed that the fish kill in the nearby
waters of Rapu-Rapu Island in Albay (about 600 km. from Manila) was allegedly
due to a deliberate cyanide leakage, the Center for Environmental
Concerns-Philippines (CEC-Phils) recommended the permanent closure of the mines
of Lafayette Philippines, Inc. on the island. The Department of
Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) temporarily suspended the Discharge
Permit of the foreign-funded P1.4-billion ($25.6 million, based on an exchange
rate of P54.59 for every US dollar) Rapu-Rapu polymetallic project of the
Lafayette Philippines on Rapu-Rapu island after the two mine spills last Oct. 11
and 31 that allegedly caused cyanide contamination and fish kill in nearby
waters. The suspension order was based on a joint
investigation by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB)
and the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB), both under
DENR. On the other hand, the
independent fact-finding team that visited Rapu-Rapu from Nov. 12 to 13 was led
by the scientists’ group Samahan ng Nagtataguyod ng Agham at Teknolohiya (Agham,
Association of Science and Technology Advocates for the People) and CEC-Phil,
with the help of the Sagip-Isla (Save the Island), a multi-sectoral organization
opposing the Lafayette mining operations on the island, and other non-government
organizations and academic institutions. Deliberate Even before the mission,
Nida Bandal, Sagip-Isla coordinator in Barangay (village) Binosawan, Rapu-Rapu,
told Bulatlat that she has talked to some of his neighbors who saw the
deliberate opening of the dam to release cyanide. Bandal said that a barangay
official saw the dam’s actual opening last Oct. 31. The witness, however, was
hesitant to give his testimony without proof like a picture. After the incident,
she said that this official has brought a camera if ever another similar act
would occur. Januar Ong, CEC-Phil
research coordinator who headed the fact-finding team, said that testimonies
gathered by the team, including a worker at the mine, contradicted reports of
Lafayette officials that the mine’s dam overspilled as a result of minor damage.
It was opened to avoid breaching of the dam which could no longer hold
additional water caused by the heavy rains, he said. “There was no damage to the
dam. Instead, testimonies reveal the mine tailings were released from the main
tailings dam to a smaller overfill dam which caused the leakage,” said Ong. The mission also reported
that even the barriers that prevented the flow of the water from the mine site
to the sea were destroyed. Lafayette’s statement on
the alleged damaged dam, Ong said, only showed its “effort to shield itself from
gross irresponsibility and culpability.” Meanwhile, Bandal
criticized the mining firm officials for saying that the dam was damaged because
it is yet to complete its construction. “Eh dapat, hindi sila
nag-umpisa kaagad kung hindi pa pala ayos,” (They should have not started
operations if the dam were not yet finished.) she said. Ong said that far from what
Environment Secretary Michael Defensor referred to as “state-of-the-art”
technology being used by the mining company, they only saw “a crude, haphazard
design of mine structures that could easily result in disasters such as what
happened.” Cyanide discharge Aside from the alleged
leakage, Ong also said that the mining company is guilty of violating its
Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) which provides for a “land-based”
mine tailings disposal system. Based on the mission
report, Lafayette’s mine tailings dam is located near the Binosawan river.
Ong challenged officials of
the MGB to “see for themselves that a bogus state-of-the-art and irresponsible
mining firm has redirected its wastes and tailings into the sea.” He said that mine workers
told the fact-finding team that they were allegedly instructed by Lafayette
officials to dig canals and lay down new pipes to redirect the mine’s waste and
tailings directly to the sea. “They will not fail to see
newly dug canals and several six-inch diameter pipes leading from the lower
tailings pond uphill, downhill to one of two small settling ponds with canals
leading to the sea,” Ong said. According to the DENR, the
standard for cyanide in water is 0.05 parts per mission (ppm). EMB tests showed
that discharge of effluent from the tailings pond raised the cyanide level in
the water at 0.1 ppm from the second mine spill. The mission
reported that the discharge may have dried out several plants and trees along
the trail of the mine tailings. It also included residents who acquired skin
diseases after being exposed to the alleged contaminated water. Officials said Lafayette
was fined more than P300,000 ($5,495.51) for the spill last Oct. 11 that
resulted in a fish kill reported by surrounding communities. The DENR is still
calculating the penalty for the second spill last Oct. 31. Promises Moreover, Bandal told
Bulatlat that they never believed company officials when they told them that
the mining operations will not affect the lives of the people and their
environment. The areas directly affected by the mining operations are Malobago,
Pagculbon and Binosawan. Bandal was not surprised
with the presence of cyanide on the island even though one of the company’s
promises, she said, was the exclusion of a refinery on the island where the
processing of gold ores is done. The highly toxic cyanide is a primary agent in
separating gold from ore. But what saddened her and
other small fisherfolk even more were the deaths of the shellfishes. During rainy days or when
the waves in the sea are huge that small fisherfolk could not sail farther to
fish, or even during kati (low tide), people get their food by picking up
various kinds of shellfishes on the shore. There are also others, specially
those who do not have a fishing boats or nets, who could even sell a plate of
shellfishes from P5 to P15 ($0.09 to $0.27). “Dati sumisilip pa kami
sa butas sa lupa para hanapin ang mga nagtatagong shells,” recalled Bandal.
“Ngayon nagsilabasan na silang lahat at puro patay na.” (Before, we peek
through holes on the ground to look for hiding shellfishes. Now, they have all
come out but they are all dead.) New Marinduque? CEC-Phil. Executive
Director Frances Quimpo warned that unless Lafayette’s mining operations on
Rapu-rapu island is permanently stopped, more toxic mine wastes will spill into
Albay Gulf, destroying the country’s marine biodiversity not only in Bicol but
also other fishing grounds in Southern Luzon and the Samar provinces. Even the endangered
butanding (locals’ name for whale sharks) which are seen in the gulf
separating Rapu-rapu from Sorsogon will not be spared from the contamination,
she added. Worse, Quimpo said that
“Rapu-Rapu is a new Marinduque in the making.” In 1993, a siltation dam
collapsed pouring toxic mine waste into Mogpog river in Marinduque (171
kilometers from Manila). That disaster killed all marine life and caused
flooding which destroyed the rich farming areas along the river. It was followed
in March 1996 when more than three million tons of toxic mine tailings spilled
into Boac river, killing all aquatic life and destroying the homes and
properties of the communities around it. At that time, a badly sealed tunnel in
an old mine tailings pit burst open and gorged its toxic contents. The two main rivers in
Marinduque have not been revived up to now. Bulatlat © 2005 Bulatlat
■
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Lafayette Mining Deliberately Leaked Cyanide, Says Fact-finding Mission
Bulatlat
Aside from the affected marine life in Hollow Stone and Ungay creeks, residents
reported there were dead fish and other marine organisms on the shore last Nov.
1. She also said that the concentration of the dead fish were only in Binosawan.
An initial 15 kilos of dead fishes and octopuses were brought to the island’s
municipal hall for investigation.