Atlas gets ECC for Carmen mines

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has approved Atlas Consolidated Mining & Development Corp.’s application for an environmental clearance certificate (ECC) for its Carmen copper mines in Toledo, Cebu.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Atlas corporate secretary and treasurer Noel T. Del Castillo said the ECC was granted by DENR- Region VII Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) after the evaluation of the mining company’s environmental performance report and management plan for proposed tailings disposal system, as well as the Biga Pit rehabilitation project in Barangay Tiba, Toledo City, Cebu.

"The ECC allows the construction of environmentally secure tailings disposal facilities for future mining operations. This will be subject to guidelines and conditionalities agreed upon between EMB-Region VII and Atlas for implementation and monitoring," said Del Castillo.

The issuance of the ECC follows Atlas’ recent announcement that it would begin pumping water out of the Carmen copper mines this year in preparation for its production phase that will begin by end 2007 or early 2008.

"We will begin the dewatering of the mines this year, that would take about six months, and another two months to put in place all the necessary infrastructures to replace those destroyed by the flooding of mines that led to its closure 10 years ago," said Atlas president Alfredo Ramos in a previous interview.

"We really want to speed this up so we could immediately assess the extent of the damage to the underground mine and make a more comprehensive plan to put us back into production phase," noted Ramos, adding that an evaluation of the damage would allow Atlas to make early plans to raise additional funds for the rehabilitation effort.

Atlas said that with the re-opening of the mines, it expects to generate revenues of up to $3 billion in the next 12 years.

Prior to its closure in 1994, the copper deposits in Carmen and Toledo was considered as the largest in Southeast Asia in 50 years. It sustained jobs for 12,000 residents, remitted P164 million in taxes to the National Government and P11 million to the local government annually.

Ramos said Atlas is now working with the local government to come up with various livelihood projects for the host communities, including improving infrastructure such as water and electricity.