Mining firm test run extension protested

Anti-mining advocates and environment activists yesterday assailed the 30-day extension given anew by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to Lafayette Philippines’ polymetallic mining facility in Rapu-Rapu Island, Albay.

Defend Patrimony, a nationwide alliance of anti-mining and environmental groups, said that the 90-day or three-month test run earlier granted by DENR to Lafayette is already more than enough for the government, including the Pollution Adjudication Board, to determine whether the Australian-owned mining firm should be allowed to continue operations or not.

Giving Lafayette the additional 30-day extension is "way too much," they said.

"This is already strike three for Lafayette. This third extension only indicates that Lafayette mining lacks the capacity to implement environmentally-sustainable mining operations in the small island ecosystem of Rapu-Rapu," said Trixie Concepcion, spokesperson of Defend Patrimony. "And the government seems to be covering up this incapability."

According to Concepcion, the basis for the 30-day extension was based on is doubtful, as it gives conflicting claims by Lafayette.

"Lafayette said that the third temporary lifting order (TLO) was granted because typhoon Milenyo halted their plant operations for some time. But this (reason) contradicts Lafayette’s earlier claims printed in the Mining Journal Online and in previous reports that typhoon Milenyo caused ‘no damage’ to the plant of Lafayette, and that (there were) only some superficial damage to the (mine facility)... that Lafayette was up and running... towards full production," she pointed out.

The group criticized the DENR for allegedly handling Lafayette with "kid gloves" and for allegedly giving the mine company the "red carpet treatment" even before and after two mine spill incidents in October 2005.

Defend Patrimony accused the DENR of making a mockery of its mandate by setting aside the recommendations of the Rapu-Rapu Fact-finding Mission, which was formed by President Arroyo to look into the mine spills. The fact-finding mission was headed by Sorsogon Bishop Arturo Bastes.

"The DENR instead approved two test runs — 30 days and 60 days — to give Lafayette all the leeway to prove that it can qualify for the permanent lifting of the suspension of its operations," Concepcion noted. "This third extension practically defeats the DENR’s rationale for setting up a defined time-frame of 30 and 60 days where Lafayette’s compliance with environmental, social, and technical requirements should be met."

The Kalikasan-People’s Network for Environment echoed the sentiments of Defend Patrimony.

Clemente Bautista, national coordinator of Kalikasan, said the DENR should look into the real situation and permanently close down Lafayette’s operations.

"From the start, Rapu-Rapu residents and environmentalists have been calling for an urgent and unconditional moratorium into Rapu-Rapu mining operations after scientific findings showed that large-scale mining — the kind that Lafayette is engaging in — is not feasible in the Rapu-Rapu due to the threat of acid-mine drainage and the absence of technology that could be used to contain this threat," Bautista said.

"The DENR’s sluggish and snail-paced environmental monitoring systems in the case of Lafayette seems to hinge on the fact that the Rapu-Rapu polymetallic project is one of the Arroyo administration’s pet programs for its mining revitalization policy directed towards other foreign mining transnational companies." — Katherine Adraneda