Bicol execs mull total closure of mining site

LEGAZPI CITY — The provincial governments of Albay and Sorsogon have threatened to press for the total closure of the mining venture of Lafayette Mining Ltd. of Australia on Rapu-Rapu Island if it fails to shed light on the reported toxic waste spillage that resulted in a massive fish kill.

The regional offices of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) and the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) of the Department and Natural Resources (DENR) issued a cease-and-desist order to Lafayette last week after an investigation confirmed the accidental spillage of chemical wastes when one of the dams in the company’s mining site broke.

The Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Sorsogon has passed a resolution calling for a stop to Lafayette’s mining project in Rapu-Rapu, claiming that it also affects the province’s territorial waters.

Rapu-Rapu, an island-town, is part of Albay, which is adjoining Sorsogon.

According to Sorsogon Vice Gov. Kruni Escudero, the recent toxic waste spillage in Rapu-Rapu has reached Sorsogon waters through the Albay Gulf.

Albay Vice Gov. James Calisin said they have formally invited the officials of Lafayette to shed light on the spillage and update the provincial board of its exploration of gold, copper and zinc on Rapu-Rapu Island.

Such an update, according to Calisin, is stipulated in the memorandum of agreement which the different parties had signed before Lafayette’s mining venture was given the go-signal last year.

Lafayette had spent five years studying the gold, copper and zinc deposits on the island before it went full-blast in its mining project.

Meanwhile, Sagip-Isla, a non-government environmentalist group, said it will submit the results of its fact-finding mission on the Rapu-Rapu toxic waste spillage to higher authorities, including the Senate and the DENR central office, to convince the national government to order the total stoppage of the Lafayette venture.

Fr. Felino Bogawisan, Rapu-Rapu assistant parish priest and a member of the Sagip-Isla, identified two children — Micky Echage and Bryan Boticario, aged one and two, respectively — as among the villagers who experienced skin irritations after taking a bath in the coastal waters of Barangay Binosawan, which is located near the mining site.

Bogawisan said the massive fish kill has started to produce foul smell in the coastal waters of Rapu-Rapu.