Magnetite mining plan in Lingayen Gulf nixed

SAN FERNANDO, La Union — Citing environmental risks, the provincial board of La Union rejected the proposal of a Filipino mining company to conduct offshore exploration for magnetite in the Lingayen Gulf.

Engineer Roel Collado, mine management chief of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in Ilocos, told The STAR that although the Colossal Mining Corp. (CMC) was still applying for an exploration permit, the provincial board feared a full-scale mining operation.

Collado said La Union folk still remember their sad experience with the magnetite sand mining operations of Philmag from the late 1960s to the early 1970s which destroyed their shorelines.

However, Collado said their office has already endorsed to the DENR central office for evaluation Colossal’s application for an offshore exploration permit in Ilocos Sur and Ilocos Norte, particularly in Laoag, Vigan and Candon.

Still pending with his office, according to Collado, is Collosal’s application for offshore exploration from Bauang to Agoo, La Union and from Agoo to San Fabian, Pangasinan.

Collado said magnetite mining companies are keen on explorations in the mineral-rich Lingayen Gulf.

"It is no secret that Lingayen Gulf is very rich in magnetite sand. It is very unfortunate that because of their past experience, the people in La Union are opposing (Colossal’s application)," he said.

Collado clarified that exploration is not yet the mining stage because it calls for the gathering of data or an inventory of marine resources which could be used as basis for research.

Before the actual mining, he said feasibility studies still have to be conducted.

He said there is a huge demand for magnetite — a black magnetic mineral consisting of iron oxide — because it is exported to China for steel fabrication, especially in shipbuilding.