Aussie firm grants scholarships to Vizcaya students

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya — An Australian company which the government has allowed to mine multi-billion gold and copper deposits in a mountain village here has granted an initial P1 million for a scholarship program for at least 100 indigent college students in the province.

Engineer Arnel Arrojo, project director of the Australasia-Philippines Mining Inc. (APMI), said the program was formalized in a memorandum of agreement (MOA) entered into by the company and the Nueva Vizcaya State University (NVSU) this week.

"This is part of our company’s commitment to realize accessibility of education, especially to the underprivileged," he said.

APMI is a local subsidiary of Australia’s Climax-Arimco Mining Corp, which the government has allowed to operate the gold-copper project in the mineral-rich village of Didipio at the boundary of Nueva Vizcaya and Quirino.

The APMI project is slated to go into full swing this September after the company obtained an environmental compliance certificate from the Department of the Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) last year following almost 10 years of exploration.

The national government is expected to generate at least P30 billion from the project’s 15-year operation, besides the multimillion-peso revenue and hundreds of jobs for the host local government.

Apart from the scholarship program, the Australian company also vowed to help construct farm-to-market roads and put up livelihood projects and other development-related activities, including funding for the rehabilitation of areas to be affected by the mining project.

Under the agreement signed by Dr. Marilou Gilo-Abon, president of the NVSU, which the mining firm tapped for its scholarship program, and APMI director for social development Corazon Alma de Leon, an initial 25 scholarship slots await deserving students during the first semester of school year 2006-2007.

The NVSU will provide human and material resources to support the scholarship program, while the APMI will put up a scholarship trust fund.

The preferred courses for deserving scholars are those related to the environment, forestry, agriculture and science, Arrojo said.