Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia directed Carmen Copper Corporation to closely monitor its main pipe after the Mines and Geosciences Bureau discovered tailings spillage from the firm’s Emergency Tailings Ponds to the nearby Sigpit Creek.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources already ordered Carmen Copper to stop using its tailings pond.
DENR issued the Cease and Desist Order after no less than MGB Regional Director Roger de Dios, during an unscheduled inspection, discovered that the Emergency Tailings Pond was leaking, which caused tailings spillage to the nearby Sigpit creek that flows to the Sapangdaku River.
“Because if you will not, we will have the same problem again,” Garcia told Carmen Copper in a close-door meeting the other day. Toledo City Mayor Arlene Zambo was also in the meeting.
In a report dated September 30, DENR said the spillage is similar to what happened years ago when then Atlas Consolidated Mining and Development Corporation accidentally discharged 5.7 million cubic meter of sulfuric acid into the Sapangdaku River because of a broken pipe.
The incident caused massive fish kill in the area.
Carmen Copper heeded the governor but explained that wooden planks of the tailings pond had collapsed, thus, the spillage.
De Dios also assured Garcia that despite the spillage, the Sapangdaku River remains safe.
“The water is not harmful. It is not toxic because its PH is within DENR standards,” De Dios said.
An inspection conducted by DENR showed that water along the river particularly in barangays Ilihan, Magdugo and Media Once was milky colored.
Waste deposits about one foot thick were also found along the riverbanks. — Garry B. Lao/JMO (THE FREEMAN)