SMI completes initial draft of Tampakan EIS

MANILA, Philippines – Sagittarius Mines, Inc. (SMI) has drawn up an initial draft of an environmental impact study (EIS) which the company has referred to South Cotabato Gov. Arthur Pingoy, Jr. and Davao del Sur Gov. Douglas Cagas for comments.

The study was made by Aecom, a US-based company that is represented here by Jess P. Bayrante, an associate director.

SMI is holding a series of disclosures to affected local government units (LGUs) and stakeholders within the affected provinces of South Cotabato, Davao del Sur, Sultan Kudarat and Sarangani.

Bayrante said that after the disclosures, regional consultations would be held before the final revision which is expected to be completed by the fourth quarter of this year then submitted to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ Environmental Management Bureau (DENR-EMB).

In a previous interview, Pingoy said submission of the EIS is crucial to the provincial government’s final decision on the Tampakan project.

The province of South Cotabato where the mine will be located in the town of Tampakan, had passed a ban on open pit mining and this has been considered as the biggest stumbling block for the project to take off.

The Tampakan copper-gold project intends to adopt an open pit mining method due to the nature of the copper-gold ore body which sits near the surface.