How mining transforms a town for the better

Barangay Runruno in Nueva Vizcaya nestles atop the province’s steep mountain range. Some years ago, the fifth class municipality which hosted no more than 600 households of more than 3,000 people relied mostly on odd jobs, farming and small scale mining. Its access roads were hardly passable, especially during rainy days and its people insufficiently schooled with nary a health program to take care of them.

This once sleepy town is now bursting with activity. Livelihood is at all-time high, the number of malnourished children greatly reduced with greater access to health services, infrastructure has been upgraded and more importantly its people have now learned the virtue of a greener environment. With the help of FCF Minerals-MTL Philippines Inc., the community has rehabilitated some 30 hectares of its denuded mountain.

Although mining is still generally opposed in some areas because of the negative image it has created in the past, here in Runruno the opposite is slowly taking shape. FCF Minerals knows all to well that it will be tough to erase the nightmare that some mining companies brought in recent memory. It is nonetheless positive that given the right support, it will be able to put a new face to mining.

Mining methods have greatly improved through the years and this is what FCF Minerals has been trying to prove. First, it has to help the government defend the rightness of its decision to open up the country to mining after years of closing it down. Lastly, the company has to carefully pursue its goals wary to repeat the mistakes of other companies who came before it.

Ernesto Mendoza who oversees the company’s community relations says that it is indeed a tough job, “but so far we have been doing the right things and I pray to God that we continue with these good deeds.”

When the Supreme Court finally lifted the ban on mining, it must have considered the safety devices that mining as an industry has instituted through modern mining techniques. Also the government believes that the industry can definitely be a boon to the economy in the light of the worldwide economic contraction. Some analysts are of the view that an investment shift from equities to minerals such as gold and copper can mitigate the effects of the looming recession. The trickle-down effect to the community where mining is active is also something to cheer about.

Some sectors, however find it difficult to erase the memories of denuded forests and the crippling effects of a cyanide leak (cyanide is a poisonous chemical used in mining) that had wreaked havoc on a community some years back. Mendoza, however, explains that mining has gone a long way: “In many parts of the world where mining blooms, the industry has proven to be a partner of the community in environmental protection. They call it sustainable mining in which, among other things, the mining company is tasked to re-develop the area after it has done its job in extracting the minerals it needs. More and more people are benefiting from this and slowly, the image of mining as an environmental wrecker is starting to change for the better.”

FCF Minerals has in fact spent more that P36 million – or more than it was required to do – in just two years to make a positive impact in Runruno’s economy, health, infrastructure, environment and so many other little things in helping erase the negative image of the industry.

Mendoza says the company has provided direct livelihood to community residents and has trained others (as welders, electricians cooks, hair dressers, tailors, etc.) to be economically independent. The company has also improved nutritional status of pre-school and school children; increased hygiene and sanitation through provision of safe drinking water; enhanced accessibility among 12 sitios through improved road condition and bridges; created available community baseline data (barangay profile and other demographic data) as basis for development planning; rehabilitated more than 30 hectares of denuded mountains, among others.

If the company continues with what it has started, mining could well become a welcome partner in development indeed.