Philex clears 80% of area affected by tailings spill

MANILA, Philippines - Philex Mining Corp. has so far cleaned up 400 meters or 80 percent of the 500 meters contaminated by spillage from the broken tailings pond of its Padcal copper-gold mine in Benguet.

In a report yesterday, Philex’s environment team said 200 bags of silt was collected from the contaminated area which includes creeks draining to the Agno and Balog Rivers.

In a separate statement, the firm said a task force had been mobilized to prevent the tailings leak from reaching the San Roque Dam in Pangasinan.

Philex vice president for operations and resident manager of the Padcal mine engineer Libby R. Ricafort said rehabilitation works downstream of tailings pond No. 3 have already started.

A Philex Mining environmental team headed by vice-president for community relations Victor Francisco was deployed on Monday to survey areas along the Balog and Agno rivers, and at the convergence point near the San Roque Dam.

The firm said operations in Padcal Mine have been re-organized to focus on immediate remediation and rehabilitation of its tailings storage facility and the impact of water and sediments leak on the environment.

The task force will wash, impound, collect and haul sediments at strategic sites along the riverbanks or riverbed sites as backfill materials. The process may be done through mechanical engineering depending on the assessment of the experts.

It will cost Philex Mining Corp. P220 million a month to maintain the indefinite suspension of its Padcal copper-gold mine in Benguet while rehabilitation plans are put in place.

Philex Mining chief finance officer Rene Migrino said earlier covers maintenance cost such as the salary of employees and other expenses that would be incurred while the mine is closed. This, however, does not cover the rehabilitation cost which is still being determined.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange the other day, Philex said it is currently engaging domestic and foreign consultants to develop a rehabilitation plan to ensure the safety and integrity of its tailings pond facility. An environmental program will also be created to address environmental impacts that may have been brought by the incident. 

Philex Mining said that it is confident it has enough financial resources to assess and repair the broken tailings pond despite the suspension of inflows of mining revenues.

The company recorded an operating revenue of P7.472 billion in the first half of 2012. It reported a core net income of P2.109 billion in the first half of the year.

“However, full-year earnings for 2012 will be reduced by the continued suspension. The final impact on this year’s earnings will be appreciated after a program to rehabilitate Padcal’s tailings disposal system is developed and implemented, a process which could take some time. A similar restoration plan needs to be established to consider any possible effect on the environment,” Philex said in the disclosure.