Foreign, local mining firms eye Marcopper

Four big local mining companies and several foreign mining firms have expressed interest in taking over the controversial Marcopper mines.

"We have been getting a number of inquiries about Marcopper since there are still about a dozen existing lease mining contracts. Some are interested in a buy-in, others are considering a total buyout even in the remediation or rehabilitation stage," said Environment and Natural Resources Undersecretary Deinarado Simon D. Dimalibot.

Dimalibot said the DENR has already issued a provisional environmental clearance certificate (ECC) to Marcopper Mining Corp. which will enable the company to begin the remediation process that is expected to be completed in one-and-a-half years.

He said that Marcopper’s failure to implement the rehabilitation of the affected mining areas will compel the DENR to either take over the mines or allow other interested parties to get a stake in the existing lease mining contracts.

"We could at the same time, also cancel their application for a production sharing agreement," added Dimalibot.Marcopper has two weeks to submit its rehabilitation plan to the DENR.

The mining company was earlier ordered by the DENR to rehabilitate the damaged rivers and farmlands in Marinduque within the year.

Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Michael T. Defensor said the firm’s continued disregard of the order may cost them billions of pesos through the loss of their own minesite.

"If they do not comply with the order, we can immediately take over and confiscate the entire mining operations and, mind you, that is still very much a potential mining site and many people still want to operate the Marcopper mines. That area is still worth billions of pesos," said Defensor.

The planned revitalization of the mining industry has already targeted the opening of Marcopper‚s San Antonio Copper Project in Santa Cruz, Marinduque as one of the 23 priority mining projects of the government despite the company‚s failure to rehabilitate its old mines.

Last January, DENR ordered Marcopper to finish its rehabilitation of the affected communities and river channels within the year on the basis of a study conducted by the USGS.

The USGS study, as commissioned by the Philippine government, concluded that there is heavy metal contamination in the waterways and tailing dams due to the toxic wastes of the closed mines.

Defensor said that Marcopper and Placer Dome Inc., the Canadian mining giant that used to co-own Marcopper Mining Corp., were supposed to have started rehabilitation of the Boac River during the summer time to take advantage of the dry season but nothing was done.

"Placer Dome is saying that they have nothing to do with this anymore. This is wrong, they are still liable based on their corporate agreements with Marcopper. They are jointly liable if they do not implement this, and that is the position of the Philippine government," said Defensor.

Placer Dome claimed that they left $12 million for the rehabilitation of the Boac river and $1 million as compensation to the affected communities before they left the country.

However, Adeline M. Angeles, former chairman of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan committee on environment of Marinduque, the said funds were never released.