Tampakan mining contractor receives 2 prestigious awards

MANILA, Philippines - Sagittarius Mines, Inc. (SMI), the government contractor for South Cotabato’s proposed Tampakan copper-gold project, recently received two prestigious awards.

SMI received the Presidential Mining Industry Environment Award (PMIEA), while its parent company Xstrata Plc was named Global Mining Sector Leader for the fifth year in a row, and Super Sector Leader for basic resources industries in the annual Dow Jones Sustainability Index review for 2011-2012.

The PMIEA is the highest government award given to a mining company that has displayed leading practices in sustainable development and responsible minerals development.

The award process involves an annual review of mining companies’ performance in health and safety, environmental management, community development, and stakeholder engagement.

The Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) is an internationally accepted and respected indexing system that assesses the sustainability condition and performance of all companies in all sectors.

The DJSI follows a best-in-class approach and include sustainability leaders from each industry on a global and regional level, respectively.

The two awards highlight the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) policy that mining companies in the country follow a set of national and international environmental standards and guidelines.

According to DENR undersecretary for policy and planning Demetrio Ignacio Jr., who presented the award to SMI during a recent annual gathering of mining companies in the Philippines, “mining, as we all know, has the potential to provide economic growth and poverty reduction in mineral-rich nations. That is under certain conditions. Fundamentally, it is how the mine will contribute to broad-based growth and sustainable development--a challenge facing both the investors and government.”

However, Ignacio also acknowledged the continuing challenge faced by the mining sector.

“Our biggest challenge is how the large mines, for example the $5.9-billion Tampakan copper project, will make a significant impact on the economy and the community as a whole. We have never seen an investment this big in mining, and we must ensure that the investment not only becomes a reality, but we must also prepare ourselves in the communities on how to manage such a project,” Ignacio said.

SMI’s Tampakan project still has to hurdle an open pit mining ban imposed by the Local Government of South Cotabato.

The National Government and the LGUs are still threshing out a common policy on open pit mining which some raises various environmental challenges.